Miss Darcy's Special Friend
by RoniAllan
Summary: This story starts a month earlier than the original P&P, so about September 1, 1811. Georgiana accompanies Darcy and Bingley to Netherfield and soon meets Elizabeth Bennet, but Darcy does not. After much drama, they finally meet. HEA
1. Chapter 1

MISS DARCY'S SPECIAL FRIEND

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story starts a month earlier than the Immortal Jane's original P&P, so about September 1, 1811. It also differs in that Georgiana and her companion, Mrs. Annesley, accompany Bingley and Darcy to Netherfield without Bingley's sisters.**

Chapter 1

Fitzwilliam Darcy knew that the greatest wish of his good friend, Charles Bingley, was to own an estate. This was in accordance with his father's desire to raise the stature of his family from the merchant class into the landed gentry. The ideal estate would be within an easy distance from London and it would not be too large as he had never before managed an estate. He wanted to be considered a gentleman, so to be a gentleman farmer who was capable of running an estate on his own, was a good way to begin to rise up through the social classes. His father had been in trade in the north of England and he had been very successful, leaving his son and two daughters very well off financially. His father had intended to purchase an estate, but death claimed him before he found one that he considered to be suitable for his son and expected future generations of Bingleys. He wanted his children to be able to move up into the higher social classes as he was well aware that the top tiers of society looked down on anyone connected in any way with trade, as he was.

To begin this process, he made sure that all three of his children were very well educated. He sent his two daughters to a well-known ladies' finishing school where they associated with ladies of higher social classes, but not of the very top tier. Here they learned to look down on anyone they considered to be beneath them. He sent Charles to Cambridge, where he first met Fitzwilliam Darcy. Even though their characters were quite different, they formed a close friendship that had lasted since then. For some reason, Darcy had taken pity on Bingley when he first arrived at Cambridge as he appeared to be overwhelmed with the experience. His guidance of Bingley evolved into a close friendship as Bingley looked on Darcy as a mentor.

Darcy was the most recent of a long line of Darcys who had owned the very fine estate of Pemberley, which was one of the largest estates in all of Derbyshire. Naturally, Bingley turned to his friend to ask for his advice and assistance to learn how to run an estate. Darcy was quite willing to help his friend in any way that he could, so he agreed immediately, even though problems with his young sister were eating at him.

Darcy had recommended that Bingley first lease an estate rather than purchasing one outright so he could find out if running as estate was what he really wanted to do. Bingley and Darcy had considered a number of estates that were available for lease before deciding that they should look at Netherfield Hall in Hertfordshire. It was the right size and distance from London. The terms and return appeared to be favourable. What was left was to visit the estate to make sure the house would be suitable and to learn more about the area to see if the local society offered sufficient attractions and entertainments. Thus, near the end of August, 1811, Bingley and Darcy rode to inspect the house and grounds. When they first saw it across the fields, Bingley said, "It has a fine prospect. If it is as good on the inside as it appears on the outside, I shall take it." Darcy could not disagree with his friend about that.

They rode to the house and found the housekeeper, Mrs. Rivers, who showed them through it. They both liked what they saw and Bingley immediately decided he would lease it for a year. They went into Meryton, the nearest village, and found the estate agent in charge of the property, the local attorney named Philips. After both of them had reviewed the lease, Bingley signed it and received permission to take occupancy on the first of September, a month in advance of when leases normally began. They then returned to the house and told the housekeeper to get it ready for immediate occupancy, which included bringing the staff up to full complement and buying whatever supplies and foodstuffs were needed. They then returned to London to celebrate Bingley's decision and important step up the social ladder.

On their way to London, Bingley asked Darcy to come with him to Netherfield for the first month or two to teach him about running an estate. Darcy was hesitant to leave London at this time as he did not want to be separated from his sister, Georgiana. Upon reflection, he though that it might be very good for her to get away from the hustle and bustle of London to spend some time in a quiet location so she could begin to heal from her recent imprudent actions in Ramsgate. He asked whether Bingley would be amenable to hosting Georgiana and her companion as well.

"Certainly. Neither of my sisters will be with us, so a lady's company would be welcome. I like your sister even though I have met her only a couple of times. She is so young and innocent; she is refreshing after meeting so many overly sophisticated ladies in London. With Miss Darcy, I do not have to pretend so much. We have such different and interesting conversations from what I have been suffering in outings with my sisters."

"I am afraid that my sister is not quite as innocent as she had been. She recently had some problems that I do not want to talk about. The shock of her experience meant that she has become much shyer than she had been. I hope that a nice quiet place like Hertfordshire will be good for her. I recently hired a new companion for her, a Mrs. Annesley. Of course, she will attend Georgiana, if that is acceptable."

"Certainly. Netherfield has lots of room. Bring them both along."

Darcy returned to his London townhouse, Darcy House, where his sister was staying with her new companion. This lady had been hired after Darcy dismissed her former companion, Mrs. Younge, who had conspired with George Wickham, his former friend, to convince Georgiana to elope with him from Ramsgate. After this near disaster, Darcy and Georgiana's other guardian, their cousin Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, decided that they needed to be extra careful in selecting her new companion. They had enlisted the aid of the Colonel's mother, Countess Fitzwilliam of Matlock, to help them find a suitable lady with impeccable credentials. From the Countess's investigation, Mrs. Annesley was just what Georgiana needed. So far, Darcy had developed full confidence in this lady.

The Netherfield housekeeper had assured Bingley that the house would be ready for occupancy in just a few days, so they decided to go there as soon as possible. Darcy had asked Georgiana if she would like to go with him to Bingley's new estate. When he told her that it was near the small town of Meryton, she agreed as she was finding that the noise of London was too much for her nerves, which were now very fragile. Georgiana and her companion rode in the fine Darcy carriage and he rode his favourite saddle mount that he kept in town. A groom rode Georgiana's horse as she thought that she might want to accompany her brother and Bingley when they rode around the estate. A second carriage held his valet, John, and her maid, Alice, as well as their luggage. Bingley rode his own horse along with Darcy.

When they approached Netherfield, Georgiana admired the house and the surrounding area. She thought that the rolling hills and open fields would provide some fine riding. She was sure that this is what she needed to calm her nerves. She missed riding as it was not convenient in busy London.

Their first day there they used to settle into the house and decide on which rooms to use. Of course, Bingley occupied the master's suite and his guests found very nice suites for their own use. Even Mrs. Annesley was assigned to a nice room near Georgiana. Soon after they arrived, the housekeeper asked Mr. Bingley, "Will Miss Darcy be acting as mistress while she is here?"

"Not really; she is here as my guest. When my sisters arrive, Miss Bingley will be my hostess. However, Miss Darcy may need to act as our hostess on occasion if we have visitors. I would not mind if you began to consult with her on some easier matters as Darcy wants her to begin to learn to how be the mistress of an estate so she will be ready when she marries. Meanwhile, bring any serious issues directly to me."

That first evening, Darcy said that the next morning, if it was quite nice, he and Bingley had decided to ride out on the estate to take a closer look at all parts of it. He asked Georgiana what she would do. "I will want to ride out with you, but first I would like to see what shops are in Meryton. You do not mind, do you?"

"Not at all, as long as Mrs. Annesley and a footman are with you. Have a good time." In Darcy's mind, shopping was always something in which young ladies found enjoyment.

The next morning was sunny, so the gentlemen rode out as they had planned and the ladies went in the carriage to the village of Meryton, which was quite close to Netherfield. They descended with the assistance of the footman and walked down the main street, followed by him. As they were unknown, their fine dress and the accompanying footman in Netherfield livery drew a lot of attention from the local residents. Mrs. Annesley saw that Georgiana was alarmed at all the eyes that were turned on them and said, "Please do not worry, Miss Darcy. We are strangers here in a small town, so of course people are curious to know who we are. Once they become familiar with seeing us, they will not pay us any unwarranted attention. Notice that no one has approached us and the footman will stop any unwanted advances. They all seem friendly. See how many smile at us. It is certainly acceptable for us to return their smiles if they look respectable. I am sure that we will get to meet some of them if we come here very often."

With these assurances, Georgiana began to relax. They looked in several shop windows to see what goods they had on display. She saw that there were several shops that she wanted to enter at some time. When she saw a window with books and sheet music, she said, "I would like to go into this shop. Netherfield's library is very limited, and I might find some new books and music here. At least the piano there is a decent one, so I can practice."

They went in and slowly wandered up and down the aisles. The footman waited just inside the door. When Georgina saw the shelf where the music was, she headed that way. However, she noticed two young ladies already looking through the offerings. She noted that they were quite well-dressed, so she assumed they were ladies. She waited behind them until they would be finished. One of the ladies said, "Look, Mary, here is a piece by Herr Beethoven that I do not know. It is for a single piano and is called the Piano Sonata Number 14 in C sharp minor."

Georgiana saw them open the music and the other lady said, "Lizzy, this looks like a beautiful piece. The first movement is very simple. Look how it opens with an octave in the left hand and a triplet figuration in the right. It starts, 'ONE two three, ONE two three, ONE two three.'" Mary tried to sing the notes as they would sound on the piano. "I love it and want to learn to play it. I want to buy this."

Georgiana could not restrain herself. "That sounds lovely! I do not know that piece; it must be quite recent. May I see it? Oh! Please excuse me; we have not been introduced. I should not have spoken to you as I did." She blushed.

Lizzy and Mary turned to see a young lady who was dressed even finer than they were, accompanied by an older lady who seemed to be a companion of some sort by her less expensive clothing. They noticed the footman in livery standing by the door, denoting her status. They automatically curtsied politely, which Georgiana automatically returned.

Lizzy said, "Certainly you may look at this piece. Do you play the piano?" She gave the music to her. "You must be from London, but do not worry, our etiquette is not nearly as formal as it is in town. Here everyone knows everyone and newcomers are always welcome."

"Yes, I do play the piano, but I have never seen this piece either. I agree that it will sound lovely. I hope they have two copies of this as I would like to buy it as well." She turned to Mrs. Annesley, who had been watching this interplay. She had also noted the fine clothes on these ladies, so she did not object to their speaking to Miss Darcy. She nodded slightly to show her approval.

Lizzy said, "I do not recognize you. Are you just visiting here?"

"Yes. Forgive me. I am Miss Georgiana Darcy and this is my companion Mrs. Annesley. We are visiting Netherfield with a friend, Mr. Bingley, who just leased the estate. My brother is here to help him learn about managing an estate as we have one in Derbyshire."

Lizzy introduced herself and Mary. "I hope they have two copies of this music." She called to the shopkeeper, "Mr. Dawes, do you have a second copy of this music?"

"I am sorry, Miss Elizabeth. I just received that and they sent only one copy."

"Miss Darcy, I will be happy to copy this out for you. I have some lined sheets at home. Would that be acceptable to you?"

"I could not ask you to do that. That is a lot of work."

"It would actually help me to learn the music." Lizzy leafed through the music. "I could have the first movement ready for you by morning. The second and third movements will take longer as they are more complex. It will nice to have some new company here in town. If you come to get it, we can try to play the first movement. We can help each other learn it. Will that be acceptable, Miss Darcy? Mrs. Annesley?"

This good lady had already decided that these ladies would be good company for Georgiana. "I will confirm with Mr. Darcy, but I believe that he will have no objection."

Lizzy told them how to find Longbourn; she paid for the music and they left. Georgiana found several books she wanted, and then they left as well. When they arrived at Netherfield, she found that Darcy and Mr. Bingley had returned from their ride. "Fitzwilliam, we had the most interesting experience today in Meryton. When we walked down the main street to see what shops they had, we attracted a lot of attention, but no one bothered us. Almost everyone smiled at us. It is a very friendly town.

"We went into a shop that sells books and music and we saw two young ladies looking at a new piano piece by Beethoven. We started to talk about the piece and we introduced ourselves. They had already decided to buy that copy, which I wanted as well, but the shop had only one copy. One of the ladies offered to copy it for me and said that she would have the first movement ready in the morning. They live not too far away at an estate called Longbourn.

"Is it all right if we go there to pick up the copy? I might also practice it with them. I liked both of them and they seemed to be real ladies. Their manners and speech are very fine."

"It should be all right if Mrs. Annesley is with you. Now you should go up to dress for dinner and I will speak to Mrs. Annesley."

Georgiana went up and Darcy turned to the lady, "Well, Mrs. Annesley, what did you think of these ladies?"

"I looked at them very carefully. Their clothes were quite fine and their manners and speech were impeccable. They were very friendly, especially the older one, Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I believe that they could become good friends to Miss Darcy and should help her overcome her shyness. I asked the footman about them as he is from here. He knows them well and said they are thought of very highly here. Their father's estate of Longbourn is second in size only to Netherfield and has been in their family for generations."

"Thank you for your detailed report. I will allow her to go there, but I ask that you watch them carefully to make sure they live up to our expectations."


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, the two ladies went to Longbourn and were introduced to the whole Bennet family. Very soon all the young ladies were calling each other by their first names. Lizzy had copied the first movement and Mary showed how she had already learned this movement, although her playing of it was a bit rough. They asked Georgie to play it by sight. As everyone was very friendly, she overcame her shyness and agreed. She played hesitantly at first, and then the movement flowed under her nimble fingers. Everyone at Longbourn sat entranced with the quality of her playing and the beautiful melody that was coming out of their old piano. Even Mr. Bennet came out of his office to see who was playing as it was much better than he was used to hearing.

At the end of this movement, they all sat astonished at the beauty of this moving piece and the proficiency of Miss Darcy. When she turned around on the piano bench, their applause broke out in wild enthusiasm. Georgie blushed and could not meet their eyes; she looked down at her hands. Then all of the girls went to their new friend and hugged her. As Lizzy saw that her father wanted to congratulate her as well, she introduced him as he had been in his library when Georgiana first came.

"Miss Darcy, that was wonderful. You are very good. I wish my daughters were as good as you."

Lizzy expressed what they were all thinking, "Georgie that was the best playing that I have ever heard. That first movement is absolutely beautiful. You are superb! You had not even seen the piece before! Will you help us learn to play it?"

"You are very polite, but I am sure that you are exaggerating. I do not believe that my skills are that good. But I do thank you for saying that. My brother always compliments my playing, but I am sure that he is only being a good brother."

Everyone protested that her playing was exceptionally good. They asked her to play that movement again, which she did, reluctantly, but again to the great enjoyment of her audience. Even Mr. Bennet repeated his praises of her playing. Kitty said, "That makes me think of moonlight dappling on a lake, or filtering through the trees."

Lizzy said, "That is it! Moonlight! I will always think of it as the Moonlight piece. I hope the second and third movements are as moving as the first. Now Georgie, will you help me to learn to play it?"

Mary said, "Then me, please. I cannot wait to be able to play it as well as you can."

The ladies spent the next hour happily learning the first movement, to much fun and laughter. Just before they left, Georgiana, after she had consulted with Mrs. Annesley, invited them to come to Netherfield in the morning. She hoped that her brother and Mr. Bingley would be there so she could introduce them. Lizzy promised to have the second movement copied by then and Mary volunteered to help her. While none of the Bennet girls said anything about other thoughts that were in their minds, they all wanted to meet Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy. The thought that there were two new eligible young gentlemen in the neighbourhood excited them. They all hoped that they were handsome.

When Mr. Bennet went to go back to his library, his wife followed him. "Thomas, I hope that you will go to meet Mr. Bingley soon. Miss Darcy is so nice that I expect that we will find him and her brother to be just as nice. If the girls are going to Netherfield tomorrow, they may very well meet them before you do if you do not go there today."

"As a matter of fact, I was planning to go there this morning. I will tell them how much we enjoyed Miss Darcy. I will also tell them about the next Assembly. I cannot believe how talented she is, but I suppose that she has had the benefit of learning from some of the best masters."

Mr. Bennet did ride out after talking to his wife. Just after crossing onto the Netherfield land, he saw two riders walking their horses along the fence line. He rode up to them and said, "Good morning! May I assume that one of you is Mr. Bingley? I am Thomas Bennet of Longbourn, which begins just behind me."

Bingley spoke up, "I am Charles Bingley. I just leased this estate for a year. This is my friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy, from Pemberley in Derbyshire. I asked him to come to help me get settled here." They all exchanged bows that were awkward as they were all on horses.

Mr. Bennet addressed Darcy, "Mr. Darcy! I am pleased to meet you as we just had the great pleasure of your sister's company at Longbourn. She and my daughters were learning a new piano piece by Herr Beethoven. She has marvelous talent. We all enjoyed her playing very much. I hope that my daughters do not intimidate Miss Darcy too much as they are five lively girls. She seemed to enjoy their company very much as I heard a lot of talk and laughter when they were together."

Darcy was quite surprised to hear this about his sister as she had always been very shy, especially after her Ramsgate incident. He had hoped that the quiet of rural Hertfordshire would be good for her, but hearing about her unexpected behaviour with the Bennet sisters made him realize that having friends of her own age might be even better. He decided that he would do whatever he could to foster their acquaintance as long as they remained in the area. He also decided that Bennet could be helpful to Bingley as he would be well aware of local conditions and families.

Bingley spoke up, "Mr. Bennet, you must know the area very well. Our being here has several reasons. Mainly I wanted to learn how to manage an estate, but we also wanted to see what sports were available here. How is the shooting? And the fishing?"

"The shooting is very good as not many gentlemen here enjoy the sport. I used to shoot quite a bit, but have not gone out nearly as much recently, even though I would like to. Netherfield has not been hunted for the past several years, so you should have a good time. I know of several copses that should be full of birds."

"We were thinking of going out in the morning if we could find good places to go. Would you like to join us and show us where to go?"

"I would, indeed." They agreed when to meet and Mr. Bennet went back to Longbourn, very satisfied with their meeting.

In the morning, Mr. Bennet went to Netherfield to join Bingley and Darcy. While they were out shooting, the Bennet sisters went there for tea and piano practice. Georgie led them to the sitting room where the piano was located. Lizzy and Mary had copied the second movement and Georgie immediately took it and went to attempt to play it by sight. When she started, Mary said, "Lizzy, note how different the second movement is from the first. It is livelier and has a completely different sound, but it is also wonderful." Georgie finished playing the movement, although she was not pleased at how poorly she had done at her first attempt.

Lizzy said, "This is more difficult than the first, but I can see how it follows. Please play it again, Georgie." Georgie played both movements, this time doing better.

Jane, Kitty, and Lydia, not having been taught to play the piano, were sitting quietly, just enjoying the music. Kitty said, "That first movement does not sound too difficult to learn. Do you think I could learn to play it?"

Georgie answered, "Of course you could. Here, I will show you the right hand first." They all were soon busy showing her the finger movements, which she tried to copy. This went on until a maid brought in tea and they sat to chat.

Lydia asked the question that they had all wondered, "Where are the gentlemen? I thought we might finally meet them."

"They went out shooting this morning with your father. I hope they are successful as I love to eat pheasant. I am sorry that you will not have a chance to meet them today. I know that Mr. Bingley wants to meet you all since I have spoken so much about you. You will find that he is very personable; quite handsome, too." She blushed when she said this.

Lizzy said, "Not your brother?"

"Fitzwilliam is even more handsome and very nice, but he is never comfortable meeting new people. He is so different when he is just with people he knows well compared to when he is among people he does not know. I think that part of the reason for this is because of his position as the Master of Pemberley. It is a very fine estate and he is constantly pestered by unmarried ladies who would love to become its Mistress. He worries that if he shows even the slightest interest in any unmarried lady; she will overstate his interest and consider that he is courting her. As a result, he appears to be withdrawn and perhaps even discourteous at times. I hope that when you get to meet him, you will keep this in mind and try to get to know him. He really is a good person."

This description of Darcy made him more interesting to the Bennet ladies. Lydia asked, "Is Pemberley such a fine estate? Is it larger than Netherfield?"

'Oh yes! Much larger. I do not want to brag, but the house is one of the largest I have ever seen. The park is miles around. It has a lot of trails and paths that I love to ride or take my curricle on. We have a very several very nice streams and a lake right in front of the house. We have a number of gardeners to look after the flowers, so that there is always something in bloom, except in winter. Winters are colder in Derbyshire than here. We even skate on the lake if it is cold enough." Georgie suddenly realized how much her words would sound like bragging. "Please forgive me for talking about Pemberley so much, but I love it. I would rather be there than in town."

Jane saw that Georgie was embarrassed. "Georgie, please do not worry about talking about your home. It sounds wonderful and we cannot blame you for preferring it to anywhere else. It sounds as if there is so much to do there. We are also proud of our home, although we wish we could travel more. Our father does not care to travel, so we rarely get to go anywhere."

Their visit soon ended and they went back to Longbourn, after inviting Georgie and her companion to come to Longbourn again. When Mr. Bennet returned home, he was smiling as he brought back enough birds for several fine dinners. He said that they were going out again as the shooting was so good. They had also talked about having him show them where the best fishing was to be found on both estates.

Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley did come back to Longbourn and again they all enjoyed the visit. As Lizzy and Mary had copied the third, and final, movement, they asked Georgie to play the whole piece. She was becoming quite good at playing the first two, but was not as smooth for the third as she was playing it by sight with no prior practice. Both Lizzy and Mary had played the first two movements several times, so they took turns playing.

As the day was quite warm, they decided to walk into Meryton. The Bennets brought Georgie and her companion to their Aunt Philips's house to introduce them. As Aunt Philips was a good source of information, they usually learned a goodly amount of local news from her. During this visit, her main contribution was the news that a regiment of militia was to be quartered in the area for the winter and that their headquarters was to be in Meryton. After having tea there, they all returned to their homes.

The Bennet ladies next went to Netherfield. Again, the gentlemen were not at home as they were again out shooting with Mr. Bennet. The Bennet daughters were all becoming quite anxious to meet them as Georgie spoke so well of them, but somehow, they were never home when they visited Netherfield.

Darcy and Bingley were in a similar situation. Georgiana spoke so often and so well about her new friends that they wanted to meet them to see if she had been exaggerating her praises. Somehow the visits from Longbourn continued to happen when they were out, riding the estate, shooting, or fishing. Georgiana had praised the beautiful appearance and serenity of the oldest Miss Bennet, the keen intellect and sparkling wit of Miss Elizabeth, the eagerness of Miss Mary to improve her performance on the piano, and the liveliness of Miss Catherine and Miss Lydia. From her description of Miss Bennet, Bingley was wild to meet her as he much preferred attractive ladies who soon became his 'angels.'

From the way that Georgie described Miss Elizabeth to her brother, he was aware that she thought that they would be suited for each other, although she never said this directly. He was very surprised by her obvious attempts at matchmaking as she had never done this before. He had to admit to himself that he was curious to meet this paragon as she seemed to have had such beneficial effects on his sister. He knew that just a few weeks acquaintance with Miss Elizabeth had done so much to bring his sister out of the misery that she had been in for months. She was not the same girl that she had been before coming to Hertfordshire. What Darcy could not determine was how attractive Miss Elizabeth was as Georgiana spoke mainly of her intelligence and knowledge and not her appearance. He was hesitant to ask his sister directly about Miss Elizabeth's appearance as he did not want to seem to be too eager to meet her.

Bingley and Darcy were keen to meet the Bennet sisters; Bingley as he had been told how classically attractive Miss Bennet was; Darcy as Georgiana had continually praised Miss Elizabeth, with increasing urgency. They even went so far as to call on Mr. Bennet at Longbourn with hopes of finally meeting the ladies. However, they were all out visiting their Aunt Philips. When Bingley suggested that they invite the whole Bennet family over for dinner, Darcy pointed out that this would be very inappropriate as they had no proper hostess at Netherfield.

This strange situation continued for the whole month of September. Darcy and Bingley were just never home when the Bennets visited. Mrs. Bennet shared their frustration as she desperately wanted her daughters to meet the most eligible bachelors to have come into the area for many years. She thought of inviting the whole Netherfield party to come to dinner, but her husband perversely would not agree to invite them, even though he was often in their company. She was becoming very annoyed with him for not sharing her desperation to bring their daughters to their notice. In his mind, he was worried that Darcy would find his favourite daughter to be as precious as he did and he did not want to hasten the day when he would lose her to a suitor. In his mind, he knew this would happen eventually, but he hoped not in the near future.

Finally, Mr. Bennet agreed that the Netherfield party could be invited to come to dinner. Mrs. Bennet excitedly issued the invitation to Mr. Bingley that they all come to dinner the next day and she sat down with the cook to plan an elaborate meal. However, Mr. Bingley's quick reply was his regrets that he was obliged to go to town that day and that he would not be back for several days. He very politely asked that the invitation be delayed until he returned.


	3. Chapter 3

The situation changed drastically when Georgie came over to Longbourn that afternoon and told her friends that Mr. Bingley had gone to town to escort his two sisters back to Netherfield, one of whom was bringing her husband. She said that Miss Bingley would be acting as Bingley's hostess. Privately, she said to Lizzy, "Miss Bingley desperately wants to become Mistress of Pemberley; so much so that my brother spends most of his time trying to escape her attentions. She pretends to be my best friend, but I know that it is only so she can be in his company more often. She tries to get his attention through me."

"Where is your brother? Did you ask him to accompany you today?"

"I did, but he said he would not be comfortable coming to meet all of you at one time. I told you how shy he could be with people he does not know well. No matter how much I urged him, he just would not come. I told him about the next Assembly and that you all would be going. I know that he does not like to go to events where he does not know many people, but I believe that he will decide to go, if only to meet you. I have been telling him how much I like you and that you two just have to meet as I know you will get along very well. You really are quite similar in so many ways. You will be good for him as he needs to meet ladies who will challenge him."

"Georgie! I hope that you did not build me up so much that I will be a disappointment to him. I admit that I am looking forward to meeting him as you have made him sound so interesting. From what you said about Miss Bingley, do you think she will try to prevent him from meeting me? Will she see me as a rival and a threat even though I have never even met your brother?"

"I imagine she will. You will find her interesting; she is so predictable in what she says and does. She will not be nice to you if my brother shows any interest in you at all. I hope that does not bother you too much."

"Thanks for the warning. I will watch myself around her, but do you really think that your brother will want to talk to me?"

"Oh, yes. I know that he is so disappointed with all of the women he has met in town that he will be fascinated by you. You are so intelligent and interesting. Just wait until you meet Miss Bingley and you will know what I am saying. She is typical of the ladies in town who are desperate to meet him. They only see him as the Master of Pemberley who needs a wife and that they would be the perfect Mistress. Her main topic of conversation is gossip about people she knows or would like to know among the elites in town. My brother is completely uninterested in that gossip, but she does not realize that."

This conversation made Elizabeth more intrigued than ever with Mr. Darcy. She wondered if he would find her interesting; she could not credit that as he could have the pick of virtually any unmarried lady in town if Pemberley were as grand an estate as Georgie seemed to say. The one aspect of Darcy that she had no idea about was whether he was handsome. She had been too shy to ask Georgie this question. Georgie had suggested that he was, but that might just be the opinion of a younger sister.

Mrs. Bennet was in a panic as the rumours in Meryton were that Bingley was to bring twelve ladies and seven gentlemen with him to the Assembly. Lizzy tried to tell her that this rumour was unfounded as he was bringing back only three people. She did not go to Netherfield the day of their arrival or the next day as she thought they would need time to get settled in. The Assembly was the next day, and all five sisters were excited at the prospect of meeting two very eligible new gentlemen.

Lizzy was as energized as her sisters and they all spent the whole day deciding on what to wear. She was extremely disappointed to receive a note after lunch from Georgie that her brother had received an express message that morning asking him to go to Darcy House in London to sort out some emergency among the staff. She said that he expected to return in just a couple of days.

The Bennets arrived at the Assembly in good time. Even Mr. Bennet decided to go so he could watch the first meeting of his daughters with Bingley. He was disappointed that Darcy would not be there as he had hoped that he would find Lizzy as attractive as he knew she was, even though he was ambivalent over their meeting. She was his favourite daughter and he wanted only the best for her. So far, he knew that none of the gentlemen she had ever met came anywhere near meeting the very high standards that a prospective husband for her would have to meet to be interesting to her. He thought that Mr. Darcy just might meet those standards. As for Jane, he knew that her beauty and good nature needed someone just as nice as she was. He thought that Bingley might be suitable for her; in fact, he just might be the perfect match for her.

The Netherfield party arrived at the Assembly to be greeted with great interest by everyone. Bingley's sisters were dressed in a fashion that was unknown in Meryton, so everyone assumed that they represented the height of London fashion. In Lizzy's opinion, their excessive use of feathers and bright orange was not at all attractive; she found it garish. The sisters appeared to look disdainful at everything and everyone they saw. Mr. Hurst appeared to be bored and immediately went to the refreshments table, where he stayed for much of the evening. Mr. Bingley was noted for his constant smile; he seemed to approve of everything that he saw. He had soon made himself acquainted with all the principal people in the room; he was lively and unreserved, danced every dance, was angry that the ball closed so early, and talked of giving one himself at Netherfield. When he first came in, Mr. Bennet went to him and was introduced to Bingley's sisters. He brought Bingley over to his family and introduced them. Bingley immediately had eyes only for Jane, just as her father had assumed he would.

Bingley said, "Miss Bennet, if you are not already committed, may I have the honour of your hand for the first set? Miss Elizabeth, will you save the second set for me? As for the rest of you, I will ask you all to dance when you have a spot available for me." He led Jane to the floor and they took their places. He talked pleasantly whenever they came together, which pleased her very much. He treasured her lovely smiles that were usually directed at him. His sisters watched him with concern as they did not want him to become infatuated with some country nobody. If they were to be successful in their desire to climb up the social ladder, they knew that he had to marry a lady who had good contacts in London society who would help them in their aspirations. They looked down on everyone in Meryton as they appeared to have no worthwhile contacts in town.

At the end of the first set, he brought Jane over to his sisters and introduced them. He then brought his sisters over to the Bennets to introduce them. Mr. Bennet greatly appreciated the sisters as he soon saw that their superciliousness would provide him with much amusement. As he had hoped, he saw that Bingley was already enchanted with Jane. He saw that the two made a lovely couple who were well suited to each other. He quickly had high hopes for them.

When Bingley danced with Elizabeth, he spoke of his regret that Darcy had to go to town as he said, "From what Miss Darcy had said about you, I saw that Darcy really wanted to meet you. What she did not mention was how attractive both you and Miss Bennet are. You two are easily the most beautiful ladies in the room."

Lizzy laughed when he said that. "Now, Mr. Bingley! I know that you are exaggerating. Jane may be beautiful; I will admit that much."

"Oh, no, Miss Elizabeth. You are very attractive; especially your eyes are so sparkling. They light up the whole room. I certainly intend to tell Darcy what he missed. Poor Darcy! I know how much he dislikes going to public events where he does not know many people, but he was looking forward to coming just to meet you. Miss Darcy certainly did not exaggerate your attractiveness."

These words made Lizzy even more interested in his friend. She was somewhat confused as she was receiving what appeared to be conflicting descriptions of Mr. Darcy. From his sister, she heard nothing but good things; from his friend she had the impression that he was shy and uncomfortable in social situations. From Georgie's description of Pemberley, she understood that it was a very large and fine estate; so he had very important responsibilities to all of its staff and tenants. Even his being the guardian of Georgie was a heavy burden for him, especially as it started when he was quite young.

Even though she was disappointed that Mr. Darcy was not there, Lizzy enjoyed the Assembly. She danced almost every dance, as did most of her sisters. Mr. Bingley danced with each of her sisters, even Mary, who was not often asked to dance. Mr. Bingley danced twice with Jane, which indicated his interest in her as she was the only lady to be so honoured.

The next morning while the girls were still talking about their successes at the Assembly, Georgie and Mrs. Annesley arrived at Longbourn. They all quickly told her about the Assembly and the gentlemen who had asked them to dance and who was wearing what. Georgie mentioned that Mr. Bingley had talked almost exclusively about the beauty of Miss Bennet and how nice she was. Of course, Jane's sisters all teased her about her conquest. Mrs. Bennet was especially pleased to hear this as her thoughts immediately were on a likely wedding to such a wealthy gentleman with his 5000 a year.

When Georgie found a moment to be able to speak to Lizzy privately, she told her how upset she was with Miss Bingley. Not only did she disparage everything and everyone at the Assembly, calling them a bunch of country rustics, practically savages; she also was particularly brutal in her criticism of Miss Elizabeth. Georgie said that Miss Bingley must have heard something about the possibility that Mr. Darcy would find her attractive, and a possible match for him. While Georgie was especially upset at these condemnations of her friend, she said that Miss Bingley had been particularly nauseatingly cloying with her. She saw through this falseness for what it was—an attempt to use her to get closer to her brother.

She said, "Lizzy, I cannot stand her any longer. As soon as Fitzwilliam returns, I am going to ask him to let me go back to London. The only hesitation I have about this is that I am so enjoying your company and do not want to be separated from you. If I can get his permission, would you consider coming to London with me as my guest? We will not be alone as Mrs. Annesley will be with us. Please say that you will come. I would love to go shopping with you and have you meet our relatives. I know that you will enjoy our cousin's company. Richard is a delight to be with. He is a colonel in the army, but he seems not to be too busy with his duties at headquarters. He always has time to be my escort when Fitzwilliam is busy."

Lizzy was taken aback at this sudden invitation; she had not expected it. She always enjoyed her time in London, which had only been with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner. She knew that her relatives, being in trade, would not go to the same social events and entertainments as Georgie's family. This invitation was appealing as she wanted to continue to be friends with Georgie; she liked her and thought that she was helping her overcome her shyness. She hesitated as she thought that, if she were in town when Mr. Darcy was here in Hertfordshire, she might not meet him. From Georgie's talk about him, she wanted to be able to get to know him; she had to admit that she was intrigued by him. Before Georgie left, Lizzy said that she would be interested in going with her as long as her brother approved and her father gave her permission.


	4. Chapter 4

Darcy returned to Netherfield the next day, much to the delight of Miss Bingley, who quickly told him how much she missed him. She told him that he was lucky to have missed the Assembly as it was such a boring time; that there was nothing to admire about it. She said that all of the people who attended were simple rustics, almost savages, whose clothes were years out of fashion.

Darcy excused himself from her presence as soon as he could and went to find his sister. She was in the music room, playing sad pieces on the piano. "Oh, Fitzwilliam! I am so glad to see you. I have had a horrible time without you."

"Georgie, I am so sorry to hear that. Tell me what happened to upset you so much."

"It is Miss Bingley. She is constantly complaining about everything. She particularly insulted everything about Miss Elizabeth; she must be so jealous of her. She even talked about how things would be better when we are all at Pemberley! She practically said that we would be sisters. Please promise me that you will not consider marrying her. She was always with me; I could not get away from her except when I went to Longbourn.

"Fitzwilliam, I want to get away from her and go back to London, even if I have to go alone. Mrs. Annesley will be with me. I hate the thought of leaving Elizabeth; she is such a good friend. She is always so cheerful. I feel like a different person when I am with her. I forget my troubles and the ridiculous situation I was silly enough to get myself into at Ramsgate. I will be sorry to leave her." She thought that this hint would be enough to make him think of inviting her to go to London with her.

"Would you like to invite her to go with you? Even though I have not even met her yet, I see what good friends you have become. Mrs. Annesley assures me that she is a complete lady who seems to bring out the best in you. I have to stay here with Bingley for another couple of weeks to help him learn how to manage an estate, but then I will join you in town."

Georgie was so excited to hear this that she jumped up and kissed his cheek and hugged him. "I will go to Longbourn to ask Lizzy. I hope that her father will let her go. Fitzwilliam, please come to town as soon as you can as I want you to meet her so much. I know that you will like her as much as I do." Darcy smiled to see his sister's happiness. He knew that he had done just what she wanted, but he would do anything to make her happy. While he would miss her company, he was sure that just being with her special friend would do her a lot of good. He wished that he could meet Miss Elizabeth, but thought that it might be better to meet her in town where there were fewer distractions and no Miss Bingley.

Georgie went to order the carriage and to alert Mrs. Annesley about her plans to go to Longbourn right away and to be ready to leave for town in the morning. When they arrived at Longbourn, she excitedly told Lizzy that her brother had told her that she should ask Lizzy to go to town with her as her special guest. Lizzy immediately went to her father.

"Father, Miss Darcy is here. She is so upset with Miss Bingley that she decided that she will be going back to London to get away from her. She said that Mr. Darcy has returned and told her that she should ask me to go with her as her special friend. Mr. Darcy will be staying with Mr. Bingley for another couple of weeks, but, of course, Mrs. Annesley will be going with her. I would really like to go with her and am asking for your permission."

"Lizzy, I am glad that you have become such good friends with her. It is very good for you to know people from the highest social classes. I am sorry that you have yet to meet Darcy as I am sure that you two will get along very well. I suppose you will finally meet him when he goes back to town. Yes, you can go. I suppose you will want to go shopping, so I will give you some extra money. I do not want you to be embarrassed about lack of funds or your country clothes. Do you plan to take Miss Darcy to introduce her to the Gardiners?"

"I had not really thought about it, but I believe that I should. In any case, Georgie will likely want to go shopping and he carries such nice fabric in his warehouse that she may find something that she likes there. I am not sure how she likes being with small children, but I like my cousins very much. She wants to leave first thing in the morning, so I should go back to her to let her know that I will be going with her. Thank you, Father." With that she kissed him on his cheek and went back to Georgie.

"He said yes! I will be ready to go in the morning. He asked if we would be meeting my Aunt and Uncle Gardiner and their children. If you were thinking of going shopping, Uncle carries some very nice fabric in his warehouse. I think that you will like them as they are very nice." Lizzy wanted to make sure that Georgie knew that her relatives were in trade before she met them.

"Yes, of course I would like to meet your relatives. I love small children but rarely have a chance to be with any. I do want to shop for new clothes, so I would like to see what he carries. I am even more excited to have you with me. Now I should go back to Netherfield to get ready to leave." They arranged for the time for her to pick up Lizzy in the morning.

When she returned to Netherfield and told Darcy that Lizzy would go with her, he immediately sent an express to Darcy House so they would expect them on the morrow. He also arranged for the carriage to be ready to leave. Georgie went to tell her maid to pack up her belongings.

That evening at dinner, Georgie said that she was leaving for London in the morning. Miss Bingley was shocked to hear that and tried to convince her not to go, with no success. Georgie very carefully did not mention that she had invited Lizzy to go with her as she knew how upset Miss Bingley would be to hear that as Georgie had never invited her to stay with her. Darcy did not mention that he would stay only another couple of weeks to help Bingley as he knew that this news would only make Miss Bingley even more unhappy. He already knew that the next two weeks would be difficult for him to avoid her machinations.

In the morning, the very fine Darcy traveling carriage was loaded with Georgie, Mrs. Annesley, and Alice, Georgie's maid. As it was too early for Bingley's sisters to be up, only Darcy and Bingley saw them off. They went to Longbourn to pick up Lizzy, where the farewells were much more heartfelt. Both her parents and all of her sisters saw them off. As it was quite early, all four tried to make themselves comfortable enough to get some additional sleep. Lizzy found that she was too excited to sleep as she knew that she was beginning a new adventure in a world that was much different from what she was used to. She expected that the society that the Darcys were used to would be very different from the limited society in Meryton. She was worried if she would fit in with their family and friends.

After only a few hours they arrived in London. Lizzy had been in town a number of times visiting her Aunt and Uncle, but the carriage soon entered an area of town that was much different from Cheapside. The houses were much larger and in better condition; even the parks appeared to be nicer and more numerous. They stopped in front of one of the largest houses in the area. "We are here," Georgie said.

Several staff members came out to help them disembark from the carriage. Georgie led them in and introduced Lizzy to Mrs. North, the housekeeper, who smiled warmly at Lizzy. "Welcome to Darcy House, Miss Elizabeth," she said. Lizzy was almost overwhelmed by the grandeur of the entrance hall and the very polite smiles from the numerous staff who were there to assist them.

Georgie said, "I will show you to your room, Lizzy. After you freshen up, we can have tea in the small sitting room, and then I will show you the house. Then we can decide what we want to do while we are here." She led Lizzy up the grand staircase. They were followed by Mrs. Annesley and Alice, who obviously knew where they were going. They went down a hall and Georgie opened a door. "Your room is right next to mine. Mrs. Annesley's room is just down the hall."

She led Lizzy into the largest bedroom that Lizzy had ever seen. It was furnished mainly with a large four-poster bed, several large chairs, and a dressing table. A young maid was in the room. "This is Emma. She will act as your lady's maid while you are here. She is very good with hair and choosing outfits." Emma curtsied very politely. Lizzy was not sure what she would do with a personal lady's maid as she and her four sisters shared just one at Longbourn. Georgie opened a door and led Lizzy into the attached room. "Here is your dressing room." Lizzy saw that several footmen were bringing in her trunks and that Emma began to open them to put her clothes away.

"Lizzy, I know that you like to read. Would you like to have a small bookcase in your bedroom? Wait until I show you our library. Please feel free to browse the shelves and borrow any book you want."

"Georgie, I cannot wait to see it and the rest of the house. Yes, a small bookcase would be nice."

Georgie turned to Emma. "Emma, please ask Mrs. North to find a small bookcase and have it brought here. After you help Miss Elizabeth freshen up, show her to the small sitting room. Lizzy, I will see you there."

When Lizzy was shown to the correct room, she found Georgie and Mrs. Annesley waiting for her. Georgie served her tea and said, "Lizzy, one thing I would like to do fairly quickly is to go shopping. I have grown in the past few months and some of my dresses are too short for decency. I would also like to introduce you to our Matlock relatives who should be just coming back to town from their estate, which is also in Derbyshire. We should just start by going there for tea; of course, if that is acceptable to you?"

"Georgie, I am your guest and will go with you wherever you want to go. If I might suggest, I mentioned that my Uncle Gardiner has a large business here? He imports a lot of very nice material from the East and usually has a good stock in his warehouse. If we go there, you might find some that might be suitable for what you want. If you like, I will send a note to my Aunt asking that we go to tea to meet them. I warn you, though; their four children are young and quite lively. You said that you like small children, but they might overwhelm you. From there, we can go see my Uncle's warehouse, which is not far from their house."

"Lizzy, I have to mention a topic that might be delicate for you. I imagine that my clothing allowance is larger than yours. Fitzwilliam is very generous with me and I never spend it all. I would like to buy you some clothes from my unspent allowance as a gift. I do not want you to feel self-conscious about whether your clothes are suitable for meeting my family and friends. I would be very pleased to see what your Uncle carries as I would prefer to spend my money with your family rather than strangers. Please let me do this for you."

"Georgie, my Father gave me some extra money for clothes, but I understand that what I am used to wearing in Hertfordshire may not be in fashion here in town. I do not want you to be embarrassed by me, so if I spend all that my Father gave me and need more, I will accept one or two things as gifts from you. However, I do not want you to feel that I am your poor country cousin that you have to support."

"Of course not, Lizzy. You are my friend and I only want you to look your best. Might I suggest that you send a note to your Aunt to see if we can go there tomorrow? One of the grooms can take it and wait for her answer. I am excited to go shopping as soon as possible."

Lizzy did send a note to her Aunt telling her that she was in town as a guest of Miss Darcy and that she would like to bring her to introduce her. She also mentioned that they wanted to do some shopping and would like to see what fabric Uncle Gardiner might have on hand. Her Aunt was surprised that afternoon when a well-dressed groom in an unfamiliar livery knocked at her door with a note written on expensive paper and said that he was instructed to wait for a reply. When she saw that the stationery was very fine and was embossed with the Darcy crest, she wondered who it could be from. She was very pleased to see that it was from Lizzy and that she was a guest of Miss Darcy here in town. She was pleased to reply that they were welcome to come to tea and that she would alert Mr. Gardiner that they would like to see what fabrics he had in stock. The groom returned to Darcy House with her reply saying that they would be welcome to come in the morning as she nothing planned for then.

While they were waiting for Aunt Gardiner's response, Georgie showed her through the house. Everything that Lizzy saw impressed her and emphasized the wealth and good taste of the Darcys. Nothing was ostentatious; everything was elegant and well-suited to the décor that the Darcy ancestors had initiated. When Georgie led her to the family wing where their rooms were, she first took her to her own room. This was somewhat larger that Lizzy's, and was obviously in frequent use. Georgie said, "If you think these rooms are nice, those at Pemberley are even larger and have great views of the gardens and park. Our house there is much larger than this one; sometimes I feel as if it is too large for just the two of us. It needs a family and I keep hoping that Fitzwilliam will marry and have a bunch of children." She slyly looked at Lizzy when she said this, but Lizzy ignored her hint.

Their next stop was the suite intended for the Mistress. It was much larger than Lizzy's and had its own large dressing and bathing rooms. "Do you like it, Lizzy?" Georgie said while smiling at her. "Would you be comfortable here? What you like to have changed?"

"Georgie! You should not tease me like that. Yes, of course I like this suite; it is wonderful. I do not see what, if anything should be changed. However, it is not mine so how could I even consider thinking about how to change it?"

Another door led them to the sitting room that was connected to the Master's suite. This appeared to be quite comfortable. Georgie opened the door to the Master's suite and Lizzy entered it very reluctantly. "Georgie, I am not comfortable being in here; I feel as if I am intruding. It is so masculine. Does it suit your brother?"

"Very much so. I hope you get to meet him soon and that you give him a chance to get to know you. He is a wonderful person. I just know that you two will get along. Lizzy, I would love to be able to call you my sister."

"Georgie! Please! I have not even met your brother and already you have us married! How many children will we need to have to fill up Pemberley? Please do not get your hopes up so soon. If it happens that we like each other, give us time to get to know one another. I admit that from what you have said about him, I am eager to meet him, but we have no idea what he might feel about me."

"He cannot help but like you, just as I do. Besides, I have told him so many nice things about you that he must be intrigued."

"Georgie! If you build me up too much, I will be a disappointment to him when he meets the real me and finds that I do not live up to his expectations. I am only human with many faults."

"We will see; just wait."


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, the three of them went to Gracechurch Street. Georgiana had never been in Cheapside, but she was impressed by the neatness of the houses in this area even though they were not large or lavish. The houses were much nicer than she had expected from what she had heard about Cheapside from Mr. Bingley's sisters. The housekeeper let them in and led them to the sitting room, where Georgiana saw a well-dressed lady who rose when they were admitted to the room. Lizzy did the introductions.

"Miss Darcy, Mrs. Annesley, I am so pleased to meet you. Miss Darcy, are you from Derbyshire?"

"Yes, I am; my brother's estate is Pemberley. Do you know of it?"

"I was raised in Lambton and spent many happy hours exploring the Pemberley woods. I have seen the house, but I have never been in it. I remember seeing your parents when they came into the village. I do not remember your brother and probably moved to London just about when you were born. I have not lived there for many years, but I have very fond memories of the area. I still am in contact with several of my old friends who are still living there."

"That is amazing! I like the village and often go there to check out the shops. We try to give them as much trade as we can as my brother knows how important Pemberley is to the area. I am sure that you and he will have a lot to talk about."

Lizzy had been concerned that Georgie may have been uncomfortable talking to her Aunt, but her fears were unfounded as the conversation flowed easily after this good start. When they finished their tea, Georgie asked to see their children who had been confined to the nursery while they had been visiting. Mrs. Gardiner went up to get them. They came in shyly to meet the guests, but Georgie was soon sitting on the floor chatting with them and admiring the dolls that the girls brought with them. The little boys wanted attention as well, so they also crowded around 'Miss Dossy.'

Mrs. Gardiner let this go on for a short while, then said, "Children, we have to go out to see your Papa, so off you go with Nurse." The nurse rounded them up and led them away, while Mrs. Gardiner led her guests to the door. When they had donned their outer wear, they went in the Darcy carriage for the short trip to the Gardiner warehouse.

They went in the front entrance and Mr. Gardiner came out from the back to meet them. His wife made the introductions and Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley admired his premises. Mr. Gardiner asked Miss Darcy what kinds of fabrics that she would like to see, and then he led them deeper into the building where they saw walls lined with bolts of fabric. "Which bolts would you like to see, ladies? My assistant will bring them to you." Georgie and Lizzy soon had cloth filling up the tabletops and excitedly talked about which colours would suit each other.

They had each picked out a number of fabrics and asked that sufficient yardage be cut from each bolt for gowns. Lizzy protested at the quantity that Georgie had picked out for her, but her protests were overridden by an excited Georgie. Georgie even insisted that Mrs. Annesley pick out cloth for a dress for herself. When the fabric was packed up and given to a footman to put into the carriage, Georgie asked Mr. Gardiner to send the bill for the whole lot to her brother at Darcy House. When Mr. Gardiner said that he would give them a good discount, Georgie said, "Mr. Gardiner, my brother always insists on paying full price in every shop that we patronize. He says that he wants to support small business concerns and that as long as the prices are fair, he will pay them. Even though you are Miss Elizabeth's uncle, he would still be upset with me if I accepted a discount from you. I believe that your prices are fair, so no discounts, please. If you insist on a discount, he might suspect that your prices are not fair. I believe that your cloth is of very good quality, so your prices look reasonable to me. We will also be going to my modiste and I will tell her where we bought the cloth. If she likes it as much as we do, you might expect that she will be coming to see what else you carry.

"Ladies, are you ready to go?" She thanked Mr. Gardiner for his attention and they climbed into her carriage to go to her modiste.

When they arrived there, her modiste recognized her and welcomed her very warmly, especially as the footman began to carry in the numerous packages of fabric. Georgiana introduced Lizzy and Mrs. Gardiner and told her what they wanted. The modiste admired the cloth very profusely and Georgiana told her where it had come from. Mrs. Gardiner told the modiste that she was very welcome to come to her husband's warehouse to see what else he had in stock. The ladies began to look at designs and picked out a number. Assistants measured the ladies quite thoroughly and commented on how much Miss Darcy had grown. The modiste promised that the first gowns would be ready in just two days.

When they finally left that shop, Georgie invited them to go to Darcy House for tea and refreshments. Mrs. Gardiner was very impressed by the luxuriousness of the house. After tea and a tour of the house, Mrs. Gardiner asked if they would be available to come to dinner to her house. After Georgiana looked at Mrs. Annesley, who nodded her agreement, they accepted and set a date. Then the Darcy carriage took Mrs. Gardiner back to her home.

Georgie had also sent a message to her Aunt Fitzwilliam, telling her that she was back in town and that she had brought a friend with her from Hertfordshire. Her Aunt was intrigued with this news as Georgie had never invited a friend to stay with her. Her return note invited them to come to tea at Matlock House. The morning after their shopping excursion, the three of them went to tea and Georgiana introduced Miss Elizabeth Bennet from Longbourn in Hertfordshire. Lizzy was quite surprised to learn that Georgie's Aunt Fitzwilliam was the Countess of Matlock, but the Countess was very polite to her as she did not want to upset Georgiana's friend. When Lizzy said that her father was a landed gentleman whose estate had been in the family for many generations, the Countess was satisfied that Elizabeth was worthy of being a friend of her niece. As Georgie was still quite excited about their shopping trip and all the very fine fabrics that they had seen and selected, the Countess expressed her interest in visiting the modiste to see if she had increased her stock of new cloth from the Gardiner warehouse. While the Countess was not pleased to hear that Elizabeth had relatives in trade, she was willing to overlook this as she was quite impressed by her niece's new friend's manners and speech. They had a pleasant visit and the Countess invited them to come to dinner in just two days.

When they returned to Darcy House, they thought of what they might do over the next few days. They decided to wait until they saw Matlocks to see what events might be acceptable for them all to go.

Dinner at the Gardiner house went very well and Georgiana was impressed by the quality of the food, even though it was not as fancy as she was used to having at Darcy House or Pemberley. After dinner, Georgiana again asked to see the children, and she spent time playing with them before they were taken up to bed. After the children left, conversation again flowed freely among the five of them.

The next day, they went to the modiste and found that their first gowns were ready and needed only very minor adjustments. Elizabeth asked if the modiste had gone to the Gardiner warehouse and was very pleased when she learned that she had and had purchased a number of fabrics that she thought that her clientele would like. Then, of course, they had to go to a number of other shops to purchase items to complement their new gowns. As Lizzy still had the funds that her father had given her, she managed to forestall Georgie's offers and paid for these items herself.

That night, they both wore their new gowns to go to the Matlocks for dinner. Elizabeth was introduced to the Earl, the Viscount Stewart Fitzwilliam who was the Earl's heir, his wife the Viscountess Helen, and the younger son, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam. Everyone noticed that both brothers, but especially Richard, were immediately struck by Elizabeth's beauty and then by her lively conversation. The Viscount was pleased to meet a young lady who was very personable and appeared to draw out his young cousin, who had always been quite shy. The Colonel was sorry that she did not have a significant dowry as he needed his wife to have. However, it was obvious to everyone how attracted he was to her. They were all very pleased that Georgiana had finally found a friend and that she appeared to be very worthy of filling this role. They noticed that Georgiana was less shy than she had been, which they attributed to her new friend's influence.

During dinner, Georgiana asked if there were any entertainments to which she would be able to attend, knowing that she was not yet out. The Matlocks mentioned an art show and a new exhibition at the museum. As Georgiana thought that her friend might like these, she accepted for them after checking with Lizzy. The Viscount and the Colonel asked Miss Elizabeth if she would be interested in attending a ball to which they had received invitations and to the opera, but she politely declined, saying that she would not go anywhere without her friend. Georgiana tried to encourage her to go with her cousins, but she still refused. Her refusals impressed the whole Fitzwilliam family for her discretion.

When the Colonel asked Miss Elizabeth what she thought of his cousin Darcy, she admitted that they had never met, even though Darcy had been in Hertfordshire with Georgiana for some weeks. When Georgiana described how they had met over a new piano piece by Herr Beethoven and how much she enjoyed her friend's singing and playing, they naturally insisted that she play and sing for them. Lizzy reluctantly agreed and she and Georgiana found a piece that she knew from the music they had on hand. Her voice enchanted them and they showed their appreciation loudly. Georgiana next played several pieces on the piano, and then the ladies returned to Darcy House. In the carriage, Georgie teased Lizzy about conquering her cousin, but Lizzy just laughed as she knew that the Colonel could not have any serious intentions for her.

During the next week, they were busy going to several entertainments with the Matlocks and seeing the Gardiners. Either Richard or the Viscount and Viscountess were with them every time they went out. They also picked up their remaining new gowns from the modiste, which were put to immediate use. Lizzy was enjoying her time in town much more than she had expected.

Several days after that first dinner with the Matlocks, Darcy received a letter from Richard, which said, in part:

_Darcy, I hope that you are enjoying your time in Hertfordshire as much as we are here in town. Has Miss Bingley secured your hand yet?_

_ We met your Miss Elizabeth Bennet as she came to dinner with Georgie. _'My Elizabeth? What is Richard on about?' Darcy thought. 'I have never even met her!' _Stewart was most impressed with her, as was I. She is the most beautiful and remarkable lady I have ever met. If she had been endowed with a reasonable dowry, I would already be courting her. I may ask Father for some small estate so I can afford to marry. In just a short time, she has changed Georgie for the better. She seems to be getting over that problem in Ramsgate very nicely and is almost the same lively girl that she was before last summer. Our Mother was so impressed by Miss Bennet that she said that she would be willing to sponsor her for the season and was sure that she would receive at least three offers before next summer if she could look after her. What a lady! I could not believe it when she said that she had never met you or even laid eyes on you. What is wrong with you, Darcy? How could you let such a jewel slip away from you? She would make a perfect wife for you—and for me!_

These words made Darcy think very carefully. He knew that the Countess was very particular about whom she befriended, and was even more particular for her niece. For Richard to regret that her position was such that he regretted not being able to pursue her was amazing, to say the least. From Georgie's praises, he knew she was some remarkable lady, but this was the first time that he learned of her great beauty. He was not confident in his sister's appraisal of a lady's beauty, but he did trust Richard as he had a lot of experience with attractive ladies. He wished he could return to Darcy House right away to meet this paragon, but he had promised Bingley that he would stay at Netherfield until after Bingley's ball, which was still two weeks away.

Two other reasons that Darcy wanted to leave Hertfordshire were that he had encountered the last person he ever wanted to see again—George Wickham, and that he was afraid that Bingley was becoming more and more enamoured of the eldest Miss Bennet, but that he did not see a similar level of affection from her. The more he saw of the Bennets, the more concerned he was becoming that Miss Bennet was tolerating Bingley's attentions only because of her mother's desperation to attach at least one of her daughters to a man of wealth. From what he could detect of Miss Bennet's character, she was so amenable to her mother's entreaties that she appeared to be willing to go along with whatever her mother wanted.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a long two weeks for Darcy. Even though he spent as much time as he could away from Miss Bingley, she always seemed to latch herself onto him whenever he could not avoid her. He took long solo rides through the countryside and was with Bingley whenever his friend was available and not with his angel. He made sure that his valet locked his bedroom door every night to prevent Miss Bingley from 'sleepwalking' into his room. He also had his valet sleep in his dressing room to make sure she never found him alone at night. The last thing he wanted was to be compromised by her, as he suspected that she was getting desperate enough to try something as despicable as that.

The night of Bingley's ball finally arrived and it was as bad as Darcy had feared. He danced only twice, once each with Bingley's sisters, even though he certainly did not want to pay any particular attention to Miss Bingley. He was horrified by the appalling behaviour of Mrs. Bennet and her youngest daughters—they were loud and acted completely unladylike. The middle sister disgraced herself on the piano with her poor playing and dreadful singing and Mr. Bennet acted no better when he practically dragged her away from it with no consideration of her feelings. To top it off, that oaf who was their cousin intruded on him without the benefit of an introduction to talk about his esteemed patroness, who happened to be his Aunt Catherine.

The day after the ball, Bingley took his carriage to town as he had business there that could not be put off any longer. He said that he would be back in just a few days. Darcy certainly did not want to be left at Netherfield without his protection. That same day, the Hursts also decided to go to town as Louisa was missing her London friends. This left Darcy alone with Miss Bingley, so he quickly decided that this situation would be intolerable and so he would also leave as soon as possible. When Miss Bingley heard this, she protested loudly, saying, "Mr. Darcy, you cannot leave me here alone. Charles took his carriage, so I will be stuck in this backwater piece of nowhere. Charles should never have leased this estate as there is no decent society here. No one here has any sense of style at all. I would much rather be in town where we have friends and there is so much to do. If you are not willing to stay here to keep me company, would you at least give me a ride to town? I will close up the house as I am sure that when Charles sees how much there is to do in town that he will not want to return here in a hurry."

Darcy knew that he had no choice except to offer her a ride. He decided that would be the lesser of two evils—he did not dare stay here alone with her. He agreed to delay his departure until the next day so she could get ready. He insisted that her lady's maid and his valet must ride in the carriage with them for propriety. Of course, she was late getting ready, but they finally left, much later than he had planned. His carriage was loaded with all of her trunks. It was a good thing that Darcy's carriage was large, as he did not want to sit anywhere near her. He carefully had his valet sit beside him.

For the whole four hours of the journey to town, he had to put up with her complaints about everything. When she was not complaining, she was batting her eyes at him, trying to make him notice how desirable she was. She talked constantly, often planning outings with him and his sister, even though he did not agree with anything she suggested. After four long hours of this, he was completely fed up with her. When he could, he let his mind drift onto other things. Unfortunately, his thoughts usually focused on the disaster that he believed Bingley's ball had been.

When they finally reached the Hurst townhouse where she was going, the footmen unloaded her trunks and he went in to see if Bingley was there. He was in a very foul mood when his feet hit the pavement, angry at everything. As Bingley was there, Darcy could not restrain himself but told him how disgusted he was at the appalling behaviour he had witnessed at the ball. He told Bingley in no uncertain terms that he should not consider becoming connected to such unseemly people. When Bingley protested that he admired Miss Bennet very much, Darcy said that he had watched her very carefully and had not detected any more attention to him than she paid to everyone else and that Miss Bennet was only following her mother's dictates to try to snare a wealthy man. With these words, Darcy left, still in a foul mood.

When he arrived at Darcy House, he went in and Georgiana immediately went to him and gave him a hug. "Fitzwilliam, I am so glad to see you. How was your trip?"

Elizabeth was in the sitting room that was closest to the entrance. As the door was slightly ajar, she could hear every word they said.

"Georgiana, I just spent the worst four hours of my life as I had to give Miss Bingley a ride to town. She did not stop talking for the whole time, either complaining about Hertfordshire or planning our life together! That woman has no sense at all. I should have borrowed one of Bingley's horses and ridden beside the carriage."

"I am so sorry to hear that. How was Mr. Bingley's ball?"

"That was a disaster. The whole time I was assailed by the screeching of either the youngest Bennets or their mother. The girls acted completely wild with no decorum at all. Just being there was embarrassing. Then Mr. Bennet and the middle daughter disgraced themselves. Mrs. Bennet loudly bragged of how she had finally secured a rich man for one of her daughters. That is all she wants, no matter the consequences on either of them. Poor Bingley! When I dropped Miss Bingley off, I told him how disgusted I was with them and that he should not consider getting involved with any of them. I hope he listens to me.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I want to go up to bathe and relax after that ordeal. I will see you at dinner." He left his sister and he must have forgotten that Miss Elizabeth was in the house when he said those things.

Georgie went into the sitting room and found Lizzy crying. "Georgie, I heard everything that your brother said. He is so disgusted with my family that I know that I cannot stay here any longer. I would be too ashamed to see him now. He may even call me out for my family's misbehaving. If you will call the carriage for me, I will move my things to my Aunt's."  
"Lizzy, I am so sorry that you heard all that. Please do not go. I am sure that Fitzwilliam will calm down after he rests. I really want you to meet him."

"Georgie, please. I cannot meet him now or stay here for another minute. I am too embarrassed to face him as I know how disgraceful my family can be. They must have been at their worst behaviour at Mr. Bingley's ball. They are still my family and I love them dearly, no matter what. One of the worst things I heard was how your brother actively encouraged Mr. Bingley to abandon my sister. She loves him and will be devastated if he does not return to her. He is the very first gentleman that she has ever given her heart to. Please let me go up so I can pack my clothes. May I use your carriage?"

"Of course you can! I understand how you feel, but I am so sorry about this. I will try to make him see what he has done with his words that hurt you so much. Will you stay at your aunt's long?"

"I am not sure. Right now, I just have to get out of here." She went up and called Emma to pack her trunks immediately. Emma said how sorry she was to see her go as she had been so nice to her. When her trunks were packed, a footman carried them to the carriage and she left.

While her aunt was surprised to see her, she welcomed her with open arms. When they were alone, Elizabeth told her exactly what she had overheard. Her aunt was just as shocked with Darcy's words as she was. Only the children were happy to see her there. When Mrs. Gardiner told her husband what Lizzy had told her, he was just as disgusted as his wife. He had thought that Darcy was a gentleman, but now he was not so sure.

Lizzy rested before dinner, thinking. She knew that she did not want to meet Mr. Darcy now when she knew exactly what he thought of her family. She worried that Mr. Bingley would heed his friend's words and abandon Jane. She knew that Jane had developed strong feelings for him, even though she did not show it. At dinner that night, she said that she wanted to go home first thing in the morning so she would avoid any unpleasant scene with the Darcys. Her Aunt and Uncle agreed with her and said that she could use their carriage to return to Longbourn.

That evening, Georgiana told her brother that Lizzy had overheard everything that he had said and that she had packed all her clothes and left immediately to go to her Aunt's house. Darcy saw how distraught his sister was and he regretted upsetting her. While he had calmed down from earlier, he still knew that he wanted nothing more to do with the Bennet family. He could not believe the reports that he had had about how wonderful Miss Elizabeth was, even while he appreciated the astonishing changes that she appeared to have made with his beloved sister after such a short time. He could hardly credit Richard's effusive praises of her and he wondered if he might be serious about giving up his military career if he could receive an estate from the Earl so that he could afford to marry.

"Fitzwilliam, even if you saw such appalling behaviour from some of the Bennets, you know that the eldest Miss Bennet is not like that; neither is Miss Elizabeth. I cannot explain why they are so different from the rest of the family, but they are. I have never heard or seen even the least improper word or behaviour from either of them. From what Lizzy told me, Jane does hold Mr. Bingley in high regard, so if he does not return to Netherfield, she will be hurt by his abandonment.

"Fitzwilliam, Miss Elizabeth is my friend, my best and only friend that I have ever had. I do not want you to be at odds with her. I would like to introduce you to her, but you would have to apologize to her for your words or she would likely not be willing to meet you. Will you do that for me?"

Darcy saw how upset his sister was and he worried that the good mood that Miss Elizabeth had achieved with her might disappear and the depression that she had suffered after her Ramsgate trouble would return. He decided that he just had to swallow his pride and apologize to this unknown lady. "All right, Georgie. I will go with you to see Miss Elizabeth in the morning. I will apologize sincerely to her and ask that she come back to stay with you."

"Oh, thank you, Fitzwilliam. I do not want to lose her friendship." She gave him a hug and went away smiling.

In the morning, they rode to the Gardiner house. This was the first time that Darcy had been in Cheapside, and he was impressed by the neatness of the houses and streets. They were admitted to the house and were led to the sitting room where Mrs. Gardiner was sitting. She rose when Georgiana introduced her brother. Her curtsy to Darcy was very minimal and she did not smile at him, so both Darcys saw that she was not pleased to meet him. They both immediately realized that Elizabeth must have told her what she had overheard. Mrs. Gardiner did not invite them to sit, again showing again how displeased she was. When Georgiana asked to see Elizabeth, she was told that she had returned to Hertfordshire that morning. Darcy saw how unwelcome he was, so he said, "Please excuse us for disturbing you. Come, Georgiana, we should go."

He went to the door, leaving the two ladies a moment of privacy. Georgiana took this opportunity to say, "Mrs. Gardiner, I am so sorry what has happened. Please assure Lizzy that she is still my friend. I brought my brother here so he could apologize. He realizes how much his words hurt her. Please ask her to write to me as I do not want to lose contact with her, no matter what happened. I have greatly enjoyed knowing you and your family. Good-bye."

They left and Georgie could not stop her tears from flowing. Darcy saw again how distressed she was and moved to sit beside her. He took her into his arms and let her cry on his shoulder. When her sobs reduced, he said, "My dear, I am so sorry about this. I did not realize how much my words would hurt you because of the loss of your friend. Would you like to go to Pemberley to get away from here? Then we can think of what we can do to overcome this problem. I will do whatever you want to try to help you regain your friend. I promise.

"One thing I can do before we leave is to talk to Bingley. I did not see any sign that Miss Bennet had developed strong feelings for him, but Miss Elizabeth knows her much better than I do. If she says that her sister had developed affection for Bingley, I will accept her insight. I know that Bingley really likes Miss Bennet, much more than he had felt for any of his other angels, so I will talk to him about returning to Netherfield to make his own decision about her. While I hate to see him connecting himself in any way to Mrs. Bennet, it will be his decision. It is his life. I will suggest that he enter into a formal courtship with Miss Bennet so that he can get to know her better. Then it is up to him.

"Do you think that will help with Miss Elizabeth?"

"Oh, yes, it will. Thank you, Fitzwilliam. That might be a good first step to heal our breach. And yes, I would like to go to Pemberley. I will miss the Gardiner family, both the parents and the children, but they remind me too much of Lizzy."

"Georgie, my dear, I hate to raise a very delicate topic, but I would like to know what Miss Elizabeth knows. Have you mentioned to her about what happened at Ramsgate?"

"No, I have not. I intended to talk to her about it, but the time never seemed right. You will not mention it to her, will you?"

"No, Georgie, I will not. That is your secret to share with her, but it might serve to ease your mind if you do, if the time is ever right."

During the next few days before they left for Pemberley, Darcy invited Bingley to see him at his club. He did not want to go to the Hurst townhouse where he was staying as he did not want to see Miss Bingley, ever again. He spoke to him quite plainly that he might have been wrong about Miss Bennet's regard for him and encouraged him to return to Netherfield to judge her feelings for himself. His strongest argument was that if he did not go, he would wonder for the rest of his life if he had made the right decision. He saw that Bingley cheered up at his words and said that he would go back to Netherfield. Darcy further suggested that he go alone so his sisters' opinions would not affect his decision.


	7. Chapter 7

When Lizzy arrived back at Longbourn, she tried to immerse herself back into life with her family. The whole family was interested in what she had done and seen in town, so she regaled them with the entertainments that she had attended with Miss Darcy. Her sisters were very jealous of her new gowns, but she wondered if she would have a chance to wear them again. She did not mention why she had left so quickly, but she saw that her father was looking at her very carefully when she glossed over this.

Soon after her arrival at Longbourn, she accompanied her sisters on their walk into Meryton, ostensibly to check out the shops for any new goods, but also to help restrain her youngest sisters in their quest to meet any officers who might be seen on the streets. Lydia and Kitty were very pleased to see several officers as soon as they arrived.

Lydia said, "Look, there are Denny, Carter, and Wickham. Lizzy, you will like Lieutenant Wickham; he is so handsome and charming. He gives out more compliments than any of the other officers."

Sure enough, the officers came to the ladies and greeted them warmly. Lydia introduced Lizzy to them. As she had said, Wickham went to her and said, "It is so good to meet you at long last, Miss Elizabeth. I have heard so much about you, but none of the descriptions did you justice." He smiled his warmest smile at her. "I understand that you have been in town visiting Miss Darcy. How do you like her?"

"I like her very much and have become very friendly with her. Do you know her, sir?"

"Oh, yes, I have known her all her life. I was raised at Pemberley as my Father was the steward there. Do you know Mr. Darcy as well?"

"I have never met him as our paths never seemed to cross. What do you think of him?"

"I know him very well; too well, in fact. His father was the best of men and my god-father, but his son is not like him at all. While my god-father supported me at university, his son did me a great injustice after his death." Wickham went on to describe how Darcy had refused his father's stipulation in his will that he be given a valuable living, resulting in his present state of poverty and forcing him to accept a lieutenancy in the militia. Lizzy was horrified at Darcy's cruelty at this despicable act, but she believed Wickham as it fit with her impression of Darcy's character from what she had overheard at Darcy House. Her opinion of Mr. Darcy sank even lower than it had been. She was glad that she had never met him.

Lizzy's impression of Mr. Wickham was very favourable. He was tall and handsome; he smiled constantly; he was very personable and he knew how to rain compliments on a lady. In addition, he looked every inch a fine officer in his red coat that he wore so well. Lizzy hoped that she would see a lot of him, but she realized that his mentioning of his state of poverty meant that he could never offer for her. However, she thought that he was what she needed to help her forget about that disagreeable brother of her friend.

At Longbourn, Christmas was celebrated as they usually did. Lizzy was so depressed when she returned from London that her family had noticed. Her father misunderstood the reason for her misery and made light of her melancholy, saying that, "Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed a little in love now and then. It is something to think of, and it gives her a sort of distinction among her companions." She did not enlighten him about why she was unhappy as he was partly to blame.

The whole Gardiner family had arrived at Longbourn to spend Christmas with the Bennets. The children were as excited as always at this merry season, so they helped the atmosphere in the house to be quite cheerful. When her Aunt Gardiner had arrived, she told Lizzy about the visit she had had from Georgiana and Darcy and what Georgiana had said. She strongly suggested that Lizzy not end their friendship as Miss Darcy seemed very sincere in her desire to want it to continue. She repeated what Georgiana had said about Lizzy writing to her. Lizzy said that she would think about her request, but her hesitation about her brother made her reluctant to do so.

The next event that caused excitement was her dear friend Charlotte Lucas's marriage to Mr. Collins that took place in early January. Lizzy had been very surprised to hear about her engagement. She had been in London when Mr. Collins came to visit her family, but Jane had written her about his visit and his quest for a wife. She wrote that she was glad that their mother had deflected his attentions from her as she expected that Mr. Bingley was her suitor at that time. Their mother regretted that Lizzy was not at home for him and had considered recalling her so she could throw her at their cousin. She was forestalled only by Mr. Bennet's insistence that Lizzy would not be suitable as a wife for Mr. Collins. Mr. Collins was not satisfied with any of her sisters, but Charlotte had soon attracted his attention and he had fulfilled Charlotte's hopes by offering for her.

When Lizzy had asked Charlotte about her engagement, she justified her decision by saying, "I am not romantic, you know. I never was. I ask only for a comfortable home, and considering Mr. Collins's character, connections, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state." Lizzy had great difficulty in understanding this as she and Jane had vowed that they would marry only for the deepest love. However, when she thought about Charlotte's age and marital prospects, she thought that she could almost understand her desperation not to be a burden on her family as a dependent spinster for the rest of her life.

Before Charlotte left with her new husband to go to his living at Hunsford in Kent, she asked Lizzy to come with her father and sister to visit her at Easter. Lizzy agreed as she was curious to see how Charlotte would cope in her new situation. Life at Longbourn went on as usual after Charlotte left for Kent, except that Lizzy missed her good friend.

As Easter fell that year in late March, the Lucas carriage left with Sir William, Mariah Lucas, and Elizabeth in the early part of March. Sir William was to go only for a week or so, but the girls intended to stay for about six weeks. They stopped that first night at the Gardiners' house in Cheapside, where they were all welcomed warmly. The second day, they arrived at Hunsford. Lizzy was impressed by the size of the woods they passed, which she assumed were part of the Rosings estate.

Mr. and Mrs. Collins welcomed them warmly and Collins insisted on showing them how comfortable the parsonage was, even bragging about how his esteemed patroness had recommended that shelves be added to a closet. When Lizzy had a chance to speak alone with Charlotte, her friend told her how satisfied she was with her new life and that she had organized her husband's time so that they spent very little time together most days. She made him responsible for the gardens, which kept him out of doors for hours each day.

Sir William left after his week at Hunsford, leaving his youngest daughter and Lizzy to enjoy their time with Charlotte. Whenever the weather permitted, Lizzy explored the extensive gardens and woods of the Rosings estate. She enjoyed her time there even if she continued to find Collins unendurable. They were invited to tea with Lady Catherine several times a week and even dined there on occasion. She did not get pleasure from any time spent with the great lady as she asked such personal and detailed questions and expected her guests to do exactly as she dictated on every aspect of their lives.

She was surprised to learn that Lady Catherine's daughter, Anne, was betrothed in some way to Mr. Darcy. She was not impressed by the appearance of Anne as she seemed to be very sickly and rarely spoke even one word to anyone. She thought that Anne would make a very unsatisfactory wife to anyone, so she was not displeased that Mr. Darcy would be saddled with her.

Her visit continued in this manner for several weeks and Lizzy was generally pleased with her visit, except for the times when they were invited to be with the great lady. However, Collins was upset when the invitations suddenly ceased as he had no idea for the reason for this change in his patroness. This lack of visits to Rosings did not upset Lizzy in the least as she found that allowed more time for her to explore the Rosings woods.

One fine morning when she was walking on one of the trails, she heard a horse and rider approaching. She stopped to see who it might be and was astonished to recognize Colonel Fitzwilliam. When he saw her, he stopped and dismounted to greet her, with a very wide smile. "Miss Elizabeth! What are you doing here? Pardon me; I should have said how nice it is to see you, but it is a great shock as I had no idea that you were here. I am so pleased to see you as I had no idea how we might be able to renew our acquaintance after having met you in town."

Richard could not restrain himself but he went up to her, took her hands in his, and kissed them. This shocked Lizzy as it indicated a much closer relationship than was warranted after having met him only a few times before. "Colonel, please, we barely know each other! To answer your question, I am here as a guest of Mrs. Collins, the new wife of the parson at Hunsford. She has always been my good friend and I wanted to see her new situation here."

"Miss Elizabeth, I was so struck with you whenever we met that I knew that I wanted to see much more of you. I have never before been so impressed by any lady before. If I had been in a better situation, I would have asked you for a formal courtship before you left town. You know that as the second son, my finances are not adequate to support a family. To show you how serious I was, I asked my father if he would give me an estate, no matter how small, so that I could be independent. He said that he would consider it if the army would release me from my duties. However, when I talked to my commanding general, he would not agree as the war in Spain is heating up and I am needed to keep up the supply of materiel and fresh troops for General Wellesley. He said that as soon as the situation warrants, he would consider my release. I cannot ask you to wait for so long, but as soon as the situation is better, I will ask the general again.

"I hope that I am not embarrassing you with my admission. If I am, please forgive me."

"Colonel, this is all so sudden. I certainly did not expect anything like that. I would have to think very carefully before I said anything more."

"Perhaps we will see each other quite often while I am here. Darcy and I will be here for about three weeks."

"Mr. Darcy is here with you?"

"Yes, we come every year at Easter to make sure that our Aunt's management of Rosings is going well. I expect that he will want to come to meet you while we are here; perhaps tomorrow morning?"

"I am not sure of my schedule for tomorrow. Now I must return to the parsonage."

"If I may, I will escort you there. My horse will follow us."

When they reached the parsonage, the Colonel again kissed her hands and left. Lizzy went in and found Charlotte. "Charlotte, I have to leave right away. If we hurry, I can still catch the London coach if you will let me use your trap."

"Lizzy, what is it? What happened?"

"I just met Colonel Fitzwilliam, Lady Catherine's nephew. He is here with Mr. Darcy. The last encounter I had with Mr. Darcy, I overheard him insult my family in no uncertain terms. I never want to be anywhere near him ever again. I have to leave right away. Will you have someone take me to the coaching station?"

"Lizzy, I am so sorry to hear that. I have been enjoying your visit so much that I hate to see you go. Of course I will help you. I will have the trap ready and my maid will help you pack your trunks."

They hurried and Lizzy made it to the coaching station in time to meet the London coach. This was not nearly as comfortable as the Lucas's carriage, but she was too distraught to let it bother her. She could not believe that Colonel Fitzwilliam was so serious about her after only a few meetings. She was beginning to think that he just might be suitable for her as it would mean being able to be close to Georgiana. However, she thought that the chances of that happening were much smaller now that she had to run away from Mr. Darcy, again.


	8. Chapter 8

That evening after dinner, Richard was alone with Darcy and told him about his unexpected meeting with Miss Elizabeth right here in the Rosings woods. Richard told him about his hopes for her and that he wanted to use their time here to further their acquaintance with the expectation that she might be willing to accept a formal courtship and eventual marriage if he could work things out. Darcy was stunned at this news, both as it was so unexpected that Miss Elizabeth would be here and that his cousin was so serious about her. He knew that he had to meet her at some point in time and that he had to apologize profusely for his unkind words. He asked Richard if he could accompany him when he next went to the parsonage.

The next morning, Richard and Darcy rode to the parsonage and were let in to find Mrs. Collins alone. As Richard had never met her, Darcy greeted her first. "Good morning, Miss Lucas; pardon me, it is Mrs. Collins now. I heard that you had married Mr. Collins. I hope we find you well? May I introduce my cousin, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam?"

She curtsied politely and the Colonel said, "Good morning, Mrs. Collins. I am pleased to meet such a good friend of Miss Elizabeth. I met her in the woods yesterday. Is she available?"

"I am sorry to tell you that she has gone to London. When she returned from her walk yesterday, she suddenly remembered that she had to leave right away. She took the London coach yesterday."

Richard was crestfallen at his disappointment. "I am very sorry to hear that. She did not mention anything about that when we met. Was it something so important that she had to leave at once?"

"I am not sure what it was. Perhaps Mr. Darcy might know?" She looked pointedly at him and he realized that she had again left so she would not have to meet him.

"I am not sure either. I am sorry to hear that as I wanted to meet her at long last as she is such a good friend of my sister."

The gentlemen did not stay long. As soon as they were outside, Richard said, "Darcy, from what Mrs. Collins implied, she left because of you. What did you do to her? Tell me. You know how important she is to me. I thought that I would have a good chance to meet her almost every day and further my pursuit of her. What have you done?"

"Richard, I have never even met her, so I did nothing to her. However, when I last left Netherfield just after Bingley's ball, I had to give Miss Bingley a ride to town. That was the worst four hours that I have ever spent. That woman is completely intolerable and she spent the whole time either berating everything about Hertfordshire or planning our life together, even though I have never given her the slightest encouragement. Her complaints reminded me how dreadful that ball was as almost the whole Bennet family showed their appalling manners. The mother is loud and abrasive, bragging about how her eldest daughter had ensnared a rich suitor, meaning Bingley. Her youngest sisters ran wild with no thought of any decency at all.

"When I arrived at Darcy House, I was in a foul mood and told Georgiana how disgusted I was with both Miss Bingley and the Bennets. Miss Elizabeth was there and heard me. She immediately packed her belongings and left, even though Georgiana wanted her to stay. Georgiana berated me soundly and told me how ungentlemanlike my words were. She convinced me that I had to apologize to her. When we went to her Aunt's house in the morning, Miss Elizabeth had already left as she could not tolerate being in the same city as me.

"Now she ran from me again. She must be so disgusted with me that she must not want to be anywhere near me. How can I apologize to her if I do not have a chance to meet her? I know that I was wrong and that my words hurt her very much. The Bennets are her family and she is very loyal them, no matter how improper their behaviour. Now Georgiana is upset with me as well as she lost her only friend because of my words. What can I do?"

"Darcy, you are an idiot; a complete fool. If you were not my cousin, I would run you through right where we stand. Miss Elizabeth is the finest woman I have ever met, which you should know from what I, and all of my family, said about her. By insulting her family, you justly upset both her and your sister with your thoughtless words. She was helping Georgiana get over her unfortunate actions in Ramsgate, but you drove away her best, and perhaps only, friend. Darcy, how could you be so stupid! I am disgusted with you." Richard jumped on his horse and rode furiously away.

Darcy stood there, finally realizing the magnitude of what he had done. He had alienated his sister, whom he loved with all his heart, and now his cousin, who was as close to him as a brother, was disgusted with him. He wondered again what he could do to right this wrong that he had caused. He knew that their visit to Rosings would not be pleasant for anyone after this.

When he returned to Rosings, he learned that Richard had packed his belongings and had left, obviously unwilling to be in Darcy's company for even a minute longer. Even though his Aunt questioned him repeatedly about what he had done, he would not say. He managed to stay there for only a week instead of the three or four weeks as he had planned. This was not a pleasant week as his Aunt did not cease her criticisms of him and his conscience would not let him forget how he must have wounded his sister's friend. He spent most of the time pouring over the Rosings estate books and riding.

He returned to Darcy House as soon as he could to learn that Georgiana had gone to stay with their Aunt the Countess. His spirits were lower than they had ever been, knowing that he had likely lost the respect of all the people that he loved. His housekeeper also told him that Miss Elizabeth had been to see Miss Darcy when she arrived in town. However, she had since returned to her home in Hertfordshire. After suffering alone for two days, Darcy went to Matlock House to beg his sister to forgive him and to return with him. He opened his heart to her and told her how Richard had berated him and how much he regretted his words that Miss Elizabeth had overheard. Seeing how distressed he was, she agreed to return to stay with him, even though she did not completely forgive him. She was torn between her anger at him for how he had upset her friend and sympathy for how much he was suffering for the harm that his thoughtless words had caused.

When Lizzy had arrived unexpectedly at the Gardiners' door, her aunt welcomed her warmly, seeing how troubled she was. She soon had the whole story from her about how the Colonel had so unexpectedly talked about being willing to give up his army career for her and her again running away to escape meeting Mr. Darcy. As her Aunt had met the Colonel and had been impressed with him, she hoped that Lizzy might have a good future with him if he could convince the Earl to give him an estate and the generals to let him resign from the army. While she sympathized with her niece about how Darcy had insulted her family, she believed that he was now sincerely repentant for his words and wanted to find the chance to apologize to her. In the back of her mind, she thought that Darcy would be a better match for Lizzy than the Colonel, even though she had heard such varying accounts of him.

Knowing that Darcy was in Kent, Lizzy had sent a note to Georgiana telling her that she was in town and asking to see her. Georgiana immediately went to see her and Lizzy told her the whole story. Georgiana was not too shocked to hear about Richard's hopes for her as she had seen how taken he was with her friend when they had gone to Matlock House for dinner. While Georgie understood her extreme reluctance to meet her brother, she was sorry as she knew that he sincerely wanted to apologize to her. She was also not happy to hear that Lizzy intended to return home shortly as she had heard from Jane that Mr. Bingley had returned to Netherfield and had asked Jane for a courtship. Jane had asked that Lizzy return to her to help her decide what she should do.

Over the next several days, Lizzy and Georgie were often together, either at Darcy House or at the Gardiners'. Their friendship strengthened enough that Georgie told her about her actions in Ramsgate, which helped Lizzy to understand Georgie's previous depression.

Before Lizzy left for Longbourn, her Aunt and Uncle decided they should do something for her. They told her that they planned to take a long vacation to the Lake Country in the summer and asked her to come with them. She very willingly agreed as she had long wanted to see this part of England. Her Aunt warned her that their plans depended on Mr. Gardiner's business as he might need to return home earlier than planned if he was needed at his warehouse.

Lizzy returned to Longbourn to find Jane euphoric about Mr. Bingley's attentions to her. He had explained that he had intended to return to Netherfield after his business in London had been completed, but his sisters had convinced him to accompany them to a number of social events. He also said that Darcy had argued that he had not detected any special regard on Miss Bennet's part for him and that he should think carefully before he committed himself to her. However, Darcy had recently spoken to him to admit that he might have been mistaken about Miss Bennet's regard and that he should go back to Netherfield to decide for himself. He had said that it had taken longer than he wanted to return to Netherfield as his sisters insisted on his accompanying them to a number of social events. Finally, he simply ignored their insistent pleadings and just left for Hertfordshire.

Lizzy could not understand this reversal on Mr. Darcy's part unless Georgiana had repeated Lizzy's words to him and that he had taken them to heart. She wondered if he just might have some redeemable characteristics after all. She did not tell Georgiana about the planned tour of the Lake Country as it was still uncertain and she did not want her friend to invite them to see her at Pemberley while they were in the neighbourhood. She still could not think about meeting Mr. Darcy even if he had been instrumental in reuniting Jane with Mr. Bingley.

Another source of pleasure for Lizzy on her return to Longbourn was that Lieutenant Wickham was just as agreeable as he had been before she left. He was still full of compliments as he had been, but they did not seem to please her as much as they had after she had received the Colonel's attention and hearing his hopes for them. For some reason, Wickham's words just did not sound genuine any longer. In any case, the Colonel was a much better person than Wickham; his words seemed much more genuine. The fact that he was the son of an earl and a cousin of Georgiana was much better than Wickham's being the son of the steward of Pemberley, no matter how fine that estate was.

A source of unhappiness for her youngest sisters was the news that the militia regiment was scheduled to leave Meryton for Brighton. They hated the thought of losing the redcoats and asked, with the backing of their mother, that the whole family should go to Brighton for the summer. However, their father absolutely refused to consider this scheme. Lydia was ecstatic when she received an invitation from the regimental Colonel's wife to accompany her to Brighton as her special guest. In spite of Lizzy's protests and Kitty's wailing that the invitation did not include her, Mr. Bennet agreed that she could go, justifying his decision in that they would not have any peace in the house unless he agreed to let her go.

Lizzy heard more bad news from her Aunt that Mr. Gardiner's business would not permit him to be away for so long and that they had to delay the trip from June until July. This shortened schedule meant that they would not have time to tour the Lake Country, so they decided to restrict their travels to Derbyshire so her Aunt could spend time where she had grown up. Lizzy thought that Darcy's estate of Pemberley was in Derbyshire close to Lambton, so she decided she would not go near Pemberley if Mr. Darcy was there. She almost backed out of this whole trip, but she knew how much her Aunt wanted to go and did not want to disappoint her as she was so nice to her. While she definitely wanted to travel to see more of the country, she just could not tolerate the thought of meeting Darcy.

Before they left, Jane announced that Bingley had asked for her hand and that she had agreed. They set the wedding date for early September, so Lizzy would have time for the northern trip before that important event.

The Gardiners arrived and left their four children at Longbourn in the care of their Aunt Bennet and their cousins so the Gardiners would be able to enjoy their trip to the fullest. Lizzy and the Gardiners left in their carriage which was quite comfortable for just the three of them.


	9. Chapter 9

They rode north at a leisurely rate, stopping to visit a number of great estates and natural wonders, but they eventually arrived at Lambton and settled into the best inn there. Mrs. Gardiner immediately began to seek out acquaintances who were still living in the area. After several days, she expressed her desire to visit Pemberley and, if possible, to tour the great house. Lizzy was adamant in her refusal to go there until they asked the staff at the inn if the Darcys were in residence. The staff assured them they were not there, so Lizzy reluctantly agreed to accompany them.

They drove through extensive woods until the house came into view. The coachman stopped the carriage so they could admire the first view of this great mansion which was more like a palace than a private residence. Lizzy greatly admired the tremendous size of the house and its position just beside a small lake that looked natural, even though she assumed it was not. She admitted that whoever designed the house did a very good job in placing it where it was as it fit so well in the landscape. They continued to the front entrance and her Uncle Gardiner applied to the housekeeper for a tour of the public rooms. Her approval was given as she saw that the visitors were very well dressed and obviously respectable. She personally conducted them through the house and continually praised how kind and considerate Mr. Darcy was. Neither the Gardiners nor Lizzy mentioned that she was a friend of Miss Darcy.

After touring that part of the house that was open to the public, they asked to see the gardens, which were also very large and well laid out, and not overly formal in style. The housekeeper found the head gardener and he led them into the gardens, describing each of the different varieties of plants and flowers. Lizzy loved all the flowers and the layout, which she found was inviting her just to meander through it. She thought that living at Pemberley would be very nice, indeed. She envied Georgiana's life here.

When they were in the gardens at the side of the house, they did not notice that a carriage was arriving at front entrance. This carriage carried Mr. and Miss Darcy, who were arriving a day earlier than they had planned. While Darcy went into the house, Georgiana took a moment to enter the gardens to see what flowers were in bloom. She was surprised to see the head gardener conducting three people on a tour. She was even more surprised to recognize Lizzy first, then the Gardiners.

She immediately yelled to her friend and ran to them to give Lizzy a big hug. "Lizzy! How great to find you here! I had not idea that you might be here as you never said a word about coming north. Good-day to you, Mr. Gardiner; Mrs. Gardiner." She curtsied politely to them.

Lizzy had been assured that the Darcys were not in residence, so she said, "Georgie! We are touring the North Country and my Aunt wanted to see if we could visit Pemberley as she had never been in the house. Your housekeeper very kindly gave us a tour and she said that she was not expecting you to return today."

"My brother and I decided to come back earlier than we had planned. Now I am so pleased that we did or we would have missed you."

"Where is your brother?"

"He went directly into the house. Come with me and I will introduce you."

"Georgie, I am not comfortable at the thought of meeting him. I am still not ready. Now I believe that we should leave." She looked at her Aunt and silently appealed to her.

"Where are you staying? Lambton? How long will you be in the area?"

"Yes, we are at the Red Lion Inn, but I am not sure long we will be here. We still have a lot of country to see. Uncle, Aunt, are you ready to leave?"

The Gardiners knew how angry at Darcy she still was, so they said they were ready to return to Lambton. They got into their carriage and said good-bye to Miss Darcy very politely. When they arrived back at the inn, Lizzy said, "I do not feel comfortable here any longer. I just do not want to meet Mr. Darcy and am afraid that Georgiana will drag him here even if he does not want to come. That could be quite unpleasant for everyone. I know how nasty his temper can be if he is annoyed."

Her aunt saw how upset she was. "Lizzy, would you like to leave now? All that it means is that we will cut our visit short here by a couple of days. I have reconnected with most of the people I know who are still here. We have no fixed plans so it will not be a problem to go now."

"Aunt, you have been so good to bring me with you. I hate to upset your plans, but yes, I would like to go as soon as possible."

Her uncle said, we still have a few hours of daylight left, so we could go right away. We will make some miles before we have to stop for the night. So I agree; we can pack our clothes and get on the road this afternoon."

After packing all their belongings, they gave instructions to the inn to forward any mail and they left, missing Jane's urgent messages by a day. They made an easy trip back toward London, stopping often to tour more fine estates and natural wonders. In spite of cutting their stay in Lambton short, they still enjoyed the whole trip.

When Georgiana had gone back into the house, she went to find Darcy and excitedly told him, "Elizabeth and the Gardiners are here! They have been touring the area and just happen to be here today. I just spoke to them in the gardens. They are staying at the Red Lion Inn in Lambton but they are not sure how long they will be here. Fitzwilliam, please, please, do not let this chance go by. Will you please go with me to meet them and apologize to Lizzy? Will you do that for me?"

Darcy saw how excited she was at this chance meeting. He had certainly come to understand the importance of her friendship with Miss Elizabeth and appreciated the beneficial effects of this friendship on his sister. She was not nearly as shy as she had been and seemed to be just about over the trauma of Ramsgate.

"Are they still here, or did they go back to Lambton? If they are still here, I will go out right now."

"They were going back to the inn when I left them. When can we go into the village?"

"Georgie, I really need to clean up and change my clothes after traveling so far. It is getting late, so it would be best to go there first thing in the morning. I promise I will apologize to her. I will be nice to her. I do want to meet her as I have heard so much about her. She must be a very fine lady."

Georgiana seemed to be satisfied with these words and they went up to bathe and change their clothes. Darcy could see that his sister was excited all evening, likely because she expected that he would finally meet her friend and overcome the difficulty that he had caused with his intemperate words at Darcy House.

In the morning, they rode into Lambton quite early, hoping to find them still at the inn. However, when they enquired about the Gardiners, they were very disappointed to hear that they had left quite abruptly the previous afternoon. When Georgiana heard this, she ran back to the carriage and began to sob. When Darcy tried to take her into his arms, she fought him and began to hit him on his chest. "You did it again! Lizzy is so afraid to meet you that she ran again rather than risk seeing you. How could you! You have ruined my only friendship." She pulled away from him and huddled into a corner of the carriage, crying.

This reaction of her disgust with him struck him most forcefully as she was the most important person in his life. He knew that he was completely responsible for her distress, so it was up to him to make things right with her. He moved to sit beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Georgie, I can only apologize again. I know that I have to make things right with Miss Elizabeth, and I will. I know that I cannot just let things pass, so I will do whatever I need to do to get to know your friend. I had intended that we would stay here for the whole summer, but I have changed my mind. Would you like to go to London to find her? If she is back in Hertfordshire, we will go there. I want to correct my mistake with her. I need a couple of days here to catch up on my business correspondence, but then we can go. Will that be all right with you?"

"Will you really do that? Can we go back so soon just so you can apologize to her?"

"Yes, I will. Georgie, you are the most important person in the world to me. I will do anything to make you happy. We will leave here and not stop until I have made this better, no matter what it takes."

"Oh, thank you, Fitzwilliam. I know that once you have made up your mind to do something, you will."

Darcy went straight into his office when they returned and set to work on the pile of correspondence. It was just a couple of days until they were ready to leave once again. The staff was confused at their short visit as the Darcys had been expected to stay for the whole summer, but they had no choice but to revise their plans to conform with the Darcys' removal.

When the Gardiners and Elizabeth reached London, they went directly to their home in Cheapside. They were very surprised to find that Mr. Bennet was there. He had been in town for some time searching for Lydia, who had eloped from Brighton with Wickham. Mr. Bennet said, "Did you receive the letters that Jane sent you? I thought you would be here sooner."

"What letters? We left Lambton quite quickly and received no mail there. Tell us what happened."

Mr. Bennet told them everything he knew and had done to try to find them, with no success. As it had been several weeks since the miscreants had left Brighton, they all knew that it was highly unlikely that they would be found as they could be anywhere by now.

Lizzy asked her father, "Is the elopement known in Meryton?"

"I am afraid so. Your mother was so upset when we heard from Colonel Forster that she talked to her sister Philips. She is such a gossip that now the whole town knows. I am worried what the consequences will be for all of you. With Lydia in disgrace, it will reflect on you as well. If we do not find them and convince Wickham to marry her, she will be ruined for sure and will have tarnished all of your reputations."

Mr. Gardiner joined Bennet in searching, but to no avail. They returned to Longbourn to find the house still in an uproar. The only good news there was that Bingley had not abandoned Jane but had continued to see her every day.


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Reviewers have pointed out several problems with this story. 1. There may be confusion when Bingley heard from Darcy that he may have been wrong in assessing the depth of Jane's feelings for him. 2. I was incorrect in how nobles were addressed as 'the Earl of xxx' and 'Viscount xxx." 3. Lizzy is acting out of character by running from Darcy. The Immortal Jane's Lizzy would likely have been braver and would have confronted him. However, I needed her to do this to make the rest of the story more interesting.**

** For my errors I apologize. Roni**

When Darcy and Georgiana reached Darcy House, they settled in, and then went to the Gardiner residence. Here they found Mrs. Gardiner quite upset. Georgiana asked, "Mrs. Gardiner, is Lizzy here, or has she returned to Longbourn?"

"Miss Darcy, she has gone home. I am afraid that we are in great distress, both here and there. I hate to tell you about our troubles, but you are such a good friend of Lizzy's that you have the right to know what happened." She outlined what Lydia had done and what Mr. Bennet and her husband had done to try to find them, with no success. "I know that the whole Bennet family will share in Lydia's disgrace if they are not found and he is not convinced to marry her. We did everything we could to find them, but London is just too big to find one couple. We have no idea where they might be. I understand if you will no longer have any association with our family because of this scandal."

Mrs. Gardiner saw the great distress on Miss Darcy's face when she had been told this dreadful tale, but she did not know her history with Wickham. She saw how Darcy had protectively put his arm around his sister when the story was being told, but she thought that this was just because of her great friendship with Lizzy that was now at risk. She worried that Darcy would forbid his sister's further acquaintance with Lizzy because of her sister's actions.

Darcy said, "Mrs. Gardiner, I feel responsible for this situation. I knew what Wickham was like, but I did not do anything to warn the people of Meryton. Now I know that I should have. I truly thought that he would not be this bad. I may be able to help in finding him as I know something of his previous associates. Come, Georgie, I want to begin to look for them before it is too late. Mrs. Gardiner, if you will excuse us?"

They left and Darcy took Georgie back to Darcy House, where they talked about Wickham. She surprised her brother as she seemed to handle the situation much better than he had expected. She explained, "I told Lizzy what I had done and she talked to me how it was not my fault. The fault lies entirely with Wickham as he took advantage of me when I was so young. She told me not to dwell on the problems of the past, but to think of the past only as its remembrance gives you pleasure. I have been trying to follow this advice.

"Do you really think that you might be able to find them?"

"I have an old address for Mrs. Younge. I will start there. She will likely tell me where Wickham is if I pay her some coin, if she knows where he is. I will also send a note to Richard as he really wanted to run Wickham through last summer. I know that he will be happy to join me in my search and will be able to help me convince him to do the right thing by marrying her. I will tell him to bring his sword and a couple of big soldiers for intimidation. If Wickham deserted his post in the militia, the army will be interested in finding him. They hate deserters in times of war and may want to take him into custody to make an example of him. They have to discourage soldiers from shirking their duties to the King and country. The extreme penalty for desertion in times of war is hanging, so we can hold that threat over his head to convince him to do the right thing."

Darcy sent a note to Richard and went out to Mrs. Younge's last address, which was a boarding house in a very poor part of the city. Mrs. Younge was still there but not pleased to see Darcy at her door as they had not parted in a cordial manner at Ramsgate. It took some convincing and more than a few coins, but she eventually told him where Wickham could be found. She said that Wickham had come to her with a very young woman to find a place to stay but that she did not have any empty rooms at her house. She sent them to another location in the same neighbourhood. This other house was just as dilapidated as her own, but Darcy did not want to confront Wickham without the Colonel's support.

Richard was still very upset with Darcy, but his disgust with Wickham was stronger than his disgust with Darcy, so he decided to help him. Accompanied by the Colonel and two large and imposing troopers, Darcy went to find and confront Wickham. Needless to say, Wickham was very surprised to find Darcy at his door, especially as he saw who was with him. Wickham knew that the army did not look favourably on deserters and he feared that he was about to be arrested. He tried to brazen out the situation, but Richard soon disabused him of that possibility. It took some convincing play-acting, but finally Darcy appeared to convince Richard not to run Wickham through when they first found him. They put on a great act and told Wickham that his two worst choices were either to be run through at once or to be arrested and likely hanged for desertion. Richard then played his part in this play and said that another choice was that the army was short of officers, so he might be able to convince the generals to keep him on in the regulars under very close supervision if a suitable opening could be found.

While Wickham was considering his very limited options, Darcy asked, "What about Miss Bennet? Wickham, you have obviously ruined her for life and we cannot allow that disgrace for a lady. You will have to do the right thing and marry her, otherwise it will be either Richard's sword or the noose. If you do not marry her, the whole Bennet family will suffer. They asked me to help them as they knew that I am well aware of how rotten you are. Perhaps you should marry her and then I allow Richard free rein with his sword. That will save everyone a lot of trouble. I bet that I could find a parson who would perform a marriage ceremony even if you are hog-tied and gagged. Miss Lydia would then be a widow, which would be much better than a disgraced young lady.

"Well, Wickham, what is it to be?"

Faced with these choices and the very grim looks on the four faces confronting him, Wickham knew that he had no real choice. He had just about finished with Lydia as he was tiring of her. He was devising plans to desert her, but now he knew that he would be stuck with her for life. However, that was perhaps better than an eternity in hell if the Colonel was let loose on him. He saw that the Colonel had several times put his hand on his sword ready to pull it out. He knew that once the blade was bared, he would feel it in his ribs. He was sure that Richard would not hesitate as he was well aware of the Colonel's exploits in Spain fighting the French army. A soldier did not survive those bloody battles if he ever hesitated to run the enemy through without a thought of pity or remorse. He knew that a respected officer such as the Colonel would face no repercussions at having run a deserter through his ribs.

Wickham knew that he really had no choice in this situation. Being Wickham, he looked for a bright side to his predicament. Thinking of how willing Lydia was, he knew that he would never lack for a partner who would slake his carnal appetites whenever he wanted. He also hoped that a position as an officer in the regulars would open doors to him wherever he was posted. He had found that the militia was not very demanding of its officers, so he hoped that the regulars would be the same. Wickham quickly saw that marriage would be the least of the evils he was facing, by far. Once he had agreed and Darcy said that he would look after arranging for the license and parson, Darcy took Lydia back to the Gardiner house to her aunt and uncle. While they were pleased to see her and to hear what Darcy had arranged, they were severe with their miscreant niece and took firm control of her freedoms. She was allowed out of the house only to find a gown that would serve as her wedding dress; otherwise, she was confined to the Gardiner residence.

Richard arranged for troopers to watch Wickham until the wedding so he would not have any chance to disappear. These guards were pleased to be allowed to be severe on Wickham as they thought that there was nothing as low as a deserter. Richard also arranged for the purchase of a commission in the regulars under a very strict colonel in a camp that was in far-off Newcastle. He was pleased to find that this regiment was expected to be transferred to the front lines in Spain quite soon. Darcy was very willing to pay for the purchase of this commission. These arrangements were accomplished in just a few days and the wedding took place as planned. The newlyweds were soon on their way to his new posting via Hertfordshire.

When they arrived at Longbourn, both Lydia and her mother was in ecstasy over her new husband and Lydia preened and insisted that, as married woman, she now took precedence over her unmarried older sisters. Lizzy was disgusted with Lydia's behaviour, both before her marriage and at Longbourn and barely tolerated Wickham's company. Fortunately, the couple was on their way up north quite soon. Lizzy had not known anything about Darcy's involvement in the search for Lydia until her sister let it slip that he had been at their wedding. She could not rest until she heard more about what he had done, so she wrote to her aunt and found out how much he had done to find them and arrange for the wedding. She assumed that he did this only for Georgiana's peace of mind, but part of her wondered if he was trying to make amends for his rude words that she had overheard.

When Lydia and Wickham had left Longbourn, Mr. Bingley finally asked Jane to marry him, to which she agreed most readily. They set the wedding date in just a month in spite of her mother's insistence that she needed a lot more time to organize such an important event. Bingley said that he wanted Darcy to stand up with him and Jane wanted Lizzy as her maid of honour. They knew that this could be problematic as they knew that Lizzy was still very upset with Darcy for his insulting words. They both hoped that they would overcome their differences before the wedding.

After Darcy had seen Wickham marry Lydia, Georgie wanted to go straight to Longbourn so he could meet Lizzy. He convinced her to delay this trip until he was sure that the Wickhams had left Hertfordshire. A complication they encountered in London was that Richard wanted to go with them to Meryton so that he could renew his acquaintance with Elizabeth, but that he could not get leave for another couple of weeks after having taken time to search for Wickham with Darcy. Georgiana worried about his enthusiasm as she secretly hoped that her brother would be attracted to Lizzy. She knew that Richard had not been in a financial position to marry unless his intended was an heiress, but she also knew that he had spoken to the Earl about being given an estate so he could be more flexible in his choice of a wife. As Georgie wanted the best for her friend, she realized that marriage to Richard would do quite well for her if she was not successful in uniting her with her brother. She felt that Lizzy had felt some attraction to Richard, although she was not sure of the depth of this attraction.

Darcy had asked Bingley if they could stay at Netherfield and Bingley had readily agreed. When Georgiana heard that Bingley's sisters would be there, she begged Darcy to allow her to stay with the Bennets if Lizzy agreed. He knew that he could not ask her to stay at Netherfield if Miss Bingley was there, so he approved of this arrangement. He did receive agreement from Bingley to allow Richard to stay there as well. Georgie wrote to Lizzy and she quickly received a reply that she would be welcome at Longbourn for as long as she wanted to stay.

Just before they were to leave Darcy House, Darcy received an urgent message from his man of business that there were more problems with several of his investments and that it was critical that his personal attention was needed to sort this out. As Georgiana desperately wanted to go to see Elizabeth, he agreed to let her go with only Mrs. Annesley and her lady's maid. Of course, several grooms accompanied the carriage. Their arrival at Longbourn was enthusiastic and they were welcomed warmly by everyone there.

The next day, Bingley came to Longbourn, as he had almost every day. He welcomed Georgiana warmly and asked where Darcy was. "Some problem with some of his investments came up just before we left town that required his personal attention, so he had to stay behind to sort things out. He assured me that he would be here in time for the wedding, no matter what. I insisted that I wanted to be here with Miss Elizabeth, so I came on ahead."

"I sure hope that he makes it on time as there are only a few days left. I suppose this is what happens when one has such great responsibilities. Poor Darcy! When I purchase an estate, I suppose that I will face the same situations."

The next few days passed by quickly as the last-minute preparations were finalized. Georgiana was soon deeply immersed in helping with these, especially the decorations. Mrs. Bennet was insistent that this wedding would be the highlight of the Meryton season and she greatly regretted not being able to have anything to do with arranging for Lydia's wedding. She spent many hours on planning the decorations, the menu for the wedding breakfast, and the guest list. To Georgiana's great satisfaction, Mrs. Bennet had not allowed Bingley's sisters to have any say in any of the planning for the wedding. In fact, Georgie rarely saw them and had avoided going to Netherfield while they were there.

Everyone's main worry was that there had been no word from Darcy about when he might arrive. This was still the situation the day before the ceremony. Bingley's sisters had, reluctantly, and only at their brother's insistence, invited the whole wedding party to Netherfield for dinner that evening. They went back to Longbourn with no word if Darcy would arrive in time for the ceremony.


	11. Chapter 11

The day of the wedding was sunny and mild, which everyone believed was an auspicious sign for the marriage. All of the ladies at Longbourn helped Jane dress in her finest and they had to boast, if only to themselves, that she looked radiant; the perfect bride. Georgiana arranged for the Darcy carriage to take everyone to the church, except for the bride, Elizabeth, and their proud father. Finally, the time came for them to be off and Mr. Bennet carefully helped them into the carriage without damaging their gowns. He had to admit to himself that his two daughters were the most beautiful ladies in the kingdom. Lizzy had dressed in her finest and she also looked almost as radiant as Jane, although he could not account for the slight apprehension that he noticed in her.

They arrived at the church on time and waited just outside until they were told that everything and everyone was ready on the inside. Elizabeth entered first, followed by Jane on her father's arm. At first, Elizabeth's eyes were on the floor in front of her feet, but as she was approaching the front, she raised her eyes to assure herself that Mr. Bingley was waiting where he should be. She barely noticed him before her eyes were drawn to the tall and very handsome gentleman standing with him. This must be Mr. Darcy! He made it after all! He was here! She saw that he was watching her and that at first he appeared to be surprised at her appearance, but then she noticed the small smile on his face that appeared when he saw that she had noticed him. This made him look even more handsome! She could not help herself but smiled back at him. His smile widened in return, which made her feel warm all over. At the sight of this smile, which she knew was for her alone, much of her apprehension on meeting him simply evaporated. He was so handsome! So tall and manly! She could not look at him any longer; it was affecting her too much. She could think of nothing but how attractive he was, almost stunning. She lowered her eyes to the floor again, thinking that she had been wrong to avoid him for so long. How could anyone so handsome and with such a nice smile be as ill-mannered as she had assumed after hearing his rant about her family. Elizabeth knew that she had to apologize to him for avoiding him. She knew that she now desperately wanted to get to know him better. Thoughts of how Georgiana's suggestions that they would be perfectly suited for each other came to her mind. She now understood what Georgiana had known for so long.

As for Darcy, he had heard so much that was good about Miss Elizabeth that he believed he would be disappointed when he finally met her. No one could be such a paragon of beauty and brains. Georgiana had stressed her intelligence, friendliness, and lively personality. Richard had said how attractive she was. When she first entered the church ahead of the bride, he could not believe his eyes. He expected to be disillusioned, but no, she was lovely! One of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Petite, womanly, dark curly hair; she appeared to be shy, or perhaps apprehensive, as she did not raise her eyes from the floor until she neared the front. Then she raised her eyes and looked directly at him. Her eyes were her best feature; they absolutely sparkled. Her face was not classically beautiful, but something about it made her so attractive that he could not take his eyes off her. He smiled at her beauty and he felt his heart pound. She smiled back at him! He almost floated in his excitement. How stupid had he been to insult such a shining example of a beautiful young lady? Immediately he knew that he was smitten and that he would do anything to win her favour. He would apologize as soon as he could for having insulted her family. Richard was right; he understood why Richard would do anything to secure her as his wife. No way that Richard was going to have her; he wanted her for himself. He felt his smile widen even more. He did not know what was happening; one look at her and he was lost in those remarkable eyes.

Lizzy did not notice anyone else, not even the Colonel who was in the pews watching his cousin react to his first sight of her. Richard was shaken as he had never before seen Darcy respond favourably to any other woman, and his reaction was simple unbelievable. He actually smiled at her! And so openly! Richard saw his hopes go crashing down when he saw that Miss Elizabeth smiled back at him. It was obvious to Richard that there were sparks flying in the church that morning, but they were not for him or the bride. He had to restrain himself from pulling out his sword to run his cousin through.

Lizzy had no memory of what the parson said until she was required to sign the book as a witness to the ceremony. She was well aware that she took Mr. Darcy's arm to follow the bride and groom down the aisle to the exit, as she felt a shock at their first touch. She did not notice that Darcy winked at his cousin and that Richard almost growled out loud in return. As they slowly walked down the aisle, she felt Darcy leaning down to her to whisper, "I did not believe Richard when he said how lovely you are. He did not nearly do you justice. You are the most handsome lady I have ever met. If I had known how lovely you are, I would have made every effort to have met you months ago."

When they stepped outside the church, he did not lead her to the people waiting there surrounding the bride and groom. Instead, he led her around the corner, saying, "Please, Miss Elizabeth; no, it is Miss Bennet now; I have to apologize to you. I was so wrong in what I said. Will you hear me out? Please? If necessary, I will beg you to listen to me." She looked up at him and saw that he was sincere. Looking into his eyes was a mistake as she knew she would deny him nothing. She only nodded.

There was no one close to them here on this graveled pathway. "Miss Bennet, I was so wrong even to think those disparaging words I spoke that you overheard. I was even more wrong to say them out loud. I have no excuse; I know that was the most ungentlemanlike behaviour on my part. I can only beg for your forgiveness, even though it was inexcusable. I can only say that being cooped up with Miss Bingley for four long hours discomposed me more than I have ever been, but I know that is still not a satisfactory reason for what I said. I have regretted my actions and words ever since then and have long wanted the chance to beg for your forgiveness."

Just then, Georgiana came up to them. "There you are. I wondered where you had gone. Fitzwilliam, are you apologizing to Elizabeth for what you said?"

"I am doing that right now. I have done everything but get down on my knees to ask for her forgiveness. She has yet to answer. I hope she is only making me suffer and is not going to refuse me forgiveness."

Georgiana saw that she could humble him even more. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get down on your knees and beg. You deserve to be humbled."

Darcy immediately did get down on both knees, right in the gravel, right in front of Elizabeth. "Please, Miss Bennet, I am most humbly asking for your forgiveness."

Elizabeth saw that he really was serious and truly repented his words. She felt her impertinence rise as he was completely in her power. "If I were Queen Elizabeth, I would knight thee." She touched his shoulders, one after the other. "Arise, Sir Darcy. I do forgive you with all my heart. However, if I ever hear another disparaging word from you, I will withdraw my knighthood. I must say, Sir Darcy, that you make a very handsome knight." She took his hands and helped him to get up. She looked down and saw that bits of gravel were sticking to his knees. She let go of one hand and bent down to brush his knees off. "That gravel must have hurt. I hope that you are all right." She looked up into his eyes and saw a strange yearning there that made her blush.

He recaptured her hands and saw that her light-heartedness was her way of easing the situation. "My Queen, you make a most beautiful monarch, and Lady Georgiana a most beautiful lady-in-waiting."

Georgiana was watching their interplay with a wide smile. "Lizzy, do you really forgive him?"

"How could I not when he humbled himself so nicely?"

Just then Richard found them. "Did I hear you say that Darcy humbled himself? Impossible! My arrogant cousin? Humbling himself? Miss Bennet, if you accomplished that, you are indeed a miracle worker."

Lizzy could see that Darcy did not appreciate his cousin's words and she wanted to defuse the situation. She wondered if jealousy was the cause of Richard's unpleasantness. "Now, Colonel, your cousin is a true gentleman. You should not speak so harshly about him. We were just getting acquainted before you interrupted us." She looked up at Darcy and saw that he was again smiling at her, obviously appreciating her words. "Now I believe that we should rejoin the others before they send out a search party. My family will be wondering where I am." She turned to go back to the crowd and Darcy immediately offered his arm, which she accepted. Richard looked angry, but there was nothing he could do except to offer his arm to Georgiana and follow them. Georgiana saw how upset Richard was and began to speak quietly to him about not making a scene.

While they were rejoining the crowd, Darcy said quietly, "Did you really mean what you said about a handsome knight? I certainly meant it when I said how lovely you are. I wish I had seen you long before today. I have many regrets to live down."

"Mr. Darcy, you are handsome, especially when you smile, but I did not expect that you would fish for compliments. Perhaps there is more to you than I had expected." Lizzy knew that this might be a sign that he was not as self-confident as she had thought. She then thought how he had been forced to accept great responsibilities for managing his estate and looking after his young sister when he was still very young. She thought that she began to understand him a bit better.

When they rejoined the crowd outside the church doors, she saw that many people noticed them together. She knew that gossips' tongues would be wagging all day, and perhaps for several days running. She let go of Mr. Darcy's arm and went over to where Jane and her new husband were receiving congratulations from many well-wishers. She saw that Miss Bingley had immediately gone up to Mr. Darcy and took the arm that she had just left. He did not look pleased at her daring action.

Soon the crowd began to break up as everyone was going to Longbourn for the wedding breakfast. Lizzy saw that Mr. Bingley helped Jane into his carriage for the ride over. She also saw that Miss Bingley was still hanging on to Mr. Darcy's arm and assumed that she was hoping for an invitation to ride with him. However, he disengaged his arm and brought Georgie up to where Lizzy was standing. "Miss Bennet, may we offer you a ride to Longbourn? Our carriage is just coming up." Lizzy noticed that Miss Bingley was staring daggers at her. She knew that if looks could kill, she would have no chance. She did not notice that the Colonel had the same grim appearance.

She agreed and he helped his sister, then Lizzy into the carriage. Lizzy noticed that Mrs. Annesley was already there and Georgie went to sit beside her. This meant that Darcy sat beside Elizabeth. When they were settled and started off, Georgie leaned forward and said, "Lizzy, we are going to Pemberley right after we stop in at the breakfast. I asked my brother if I could ask you to come with me as my guest as I have not seen much of you for so long. I have missed you and would love to have you there. There is so much to do in the summer. Will you please say yes and come with us? Do you think that your parents would agree?"

This invitation surprised her as she had not expected it. She noticed that Georgie looked at her expectantly, then at Darcy, so she in turn looked to him. "Please, Miss Bennet, we would love to have you with us. Georgie has no friends there of her own age, so you would be very welcome. If you come, I will bring you back home whenever you want. You saw so little of Pemberley's gardens and woods. A ride through them in an open carriage is very pleasant when the weather is nice. If you ride, we have some very gentle mares and lots of trails; if you do not ride, I will gladly help you to learn. Horseback is one of the best ways to see more of our woods. If it helps, I will talk to your father to assure him that we really want you to come and that we would look after you."

Lizzy thought about what he said and remembered how well she had like everything about Pemberley. She knew that with Charlotte long gone and Jane now married and about to depart on her wedding trip, she would not have a confidante here. In truth, she admitted to herself that she was not looking forward to hearing Jane's raptures about her husband and the joys of married life when she returned. She had also been very impressed with Mr. Darcy on their first actual meeting. When she thought of how favourably he appeared to respond to her, she knew in her heart that she wanted to get to know him better. The fact that he was so handsome, especially when he smiled, made her tingle in ways that she had never felt before. She knew that she wanted to go, very badly.

She looked at Georgie, "That sounds wonderful! Thank you for the invitation. Yes, I will ask my father for permission to go. He will be reluctant to agree as he will be left with only my two sisters, but he will likely agree, especially if you assure him of your concurrence, Mr. Darcy." When she said this, she turned to him and smiled, which he returned in a way that made her tingle again. Georgiana saw that they responded to each other exactly as she had hoped they would.

The trip to Longbourn did not take long, and they descended from Darcy's carriage and joined the crowd. The Darcys went with her to find her father, who, fortunately, had not yet retreated from the well-wishers to hide in his library. Lizzy explained the very kind invitation that she had received from Miss Darcy and said how much she would like to return to Pemberley to see more of that fine estate. Both Mr. Darcy and Georgiana assured Mr. Bennet that they wanted her as their guest and that Mrs. Annesley would be there to serve as a chaperone for propriety. Mr. Bennet was, as Lizzy had predicted, unenthusiastic about her leaving him alone with only his wife and two daughters, but he knew that he could not refuse. When he saw how Darcy looked at Lizzy, he realized there was more to the invitation that just for Lizzy to be company to Miss Darcy. He signaled to Darcy to follow him and he walked a few paces off. "Mr. Darcy, I need to speak to you as a concerned father. I know how attractive my Lizzy is and I can see how you are looking at her. Do I have your word as a gentleman that nothing improper will occur while she is under your protection?"

Darcy coloured when Mr. Bennet said this as he had not thought that his interest was so obvious. "Mr. Bennet, I just met Miss Bennet, but I admit that my first impression is very favourable. I can understand your concern as a father. I promise you that I am no Wickham. His kind disgusts me. Would it ease your concerns if I assured you that if my interest in Miss Bennet becomes stronger, that I will ask both her and you for a formal courtship in a proper manner? Of course, it is far too early even to think about that at the moment, but I have heard nothing but good reports about your daughter. I definitely want to get to know her better and can see the possibility that I may want to formalize our relationship at some point in the future. Being with her at Pemberley will give us a chance to get to know each other better."

"Mr. Darcy; is that not exactly what a courtship is for? I would feel more comfortable if everything is completely open and obvious, but I understand that it is far too early even to think about that. If we even raise the possibility of a more formal relationship, Lizzy may feel so uncomfortable that she may change her mind about going with you to Pemberley. While I would prefer a different approach, I suppose that we do not want to worry her just now; we should just allow her to enjoy her time with you and Miss Darcy. Come with me." They went back to where Lizzy was talking to Georgie.

"Lizzy, I spoke to Mr. Darcy about your visit to Pemberley. I will admit that I am hesitant about how it might appear if you go there as his guest as some people might assume that there is something improper about your being there with no other family members present. However, Mr. Darcy has assured me that he will do whatever is necessary to maintain proper appearances. So, yes, you have my permission to go as Miss Darcy's guest."

"Father, thank you very much. I know that I will really enjoy being there and seeing more of the country. Georgie, Mr. Darcy; thank you very much for inviting me."

Georgie responded by giving Lizzy a big hug, as did her father. He said, "Lizzy, you had better go pack, and pack lots as we have no idea how long you will be gone. I will speak to your mother when I can get her attention. She is in her glory now with Jane and Bingley." She and Georgie left to go into the house. "Darcy, I am trusting you with my favourite daughter, but I have a feeling that everything will work out. Might I suggest that you treat her as I do, as a very intelligent and caring lady? Her quickness of mind will surprise you, and her advice is always worthwhile. If you treat her as being less than you in any way, you will not win her regard and may even earn her disdain. Treat her as an equal, or even as your better, or lose her. If you do not respect her in every way, she will know. She will be a handful, but a wonderful jewel to win. Good luck to you!"

Mr. Bennet knew that he would lose his favourite daughter at some point in time, but he had not thought that it might be so soon. When he thought of Darcy's status and what a fine estate Pemberley must be, he knew that the possibility of his offering for her would mean that this would be the best offer she could ever receive, by far. He wanted only the best for her, so he hoped that their mutual regard would grow into something permanent. He smiled when he thought of how well-suited Jane and Bingley were; he could only hope that Lizzy just may have met her soul mate as well.


	12. Chapter 12

It took them a while, but they finally left on the long road to Pemberley. Georgie had helped Lizzy pack her clothes, and then Lizzy had gone to say her farewells to her sisters, Mother, and Father. Jane was the most apprehensive about her sudden trip, but she was too involved with her own situation to think or say much about her concerns. For the first part of the trip, Georgie sat beside her brother and Lizzy sat beside Mrs. Annesley. Because of their late start, they made relatively few miles, and then stopped at a nice inn where Darcy engaged their best three rooms. Lizzy and Georgie shared a room and they had dinner in a private dining room. Lizzy had trouble getting to sleep, both because she was excited at her trip and continued company with Mr. Darcy and because Georgie was so excited that she wanted to talk.

Darcy did not force them to start very early as he wanted everyone to enjoy the trip. They made several stops before lunch, both to change horses and to allow the ladies to stretch their legs and rest. Their stop for lunch was longer than needed as well. After lunch, Georgie got into the carriage right after her companion and she sat beside her, forcing Lizzy to sit beside Mr. Darcy. The rocking of the carriage soon put her to sleep. When she woke, she opened her eyes and at first did not realize where she was. She knew that she was very comfortable and that she was leaning against something warm. When she became fully awake, she found that she was nestling against Darcy and that he had his arm around her, holding her in place. At first, she did not move as she felt so comforted, then she stirred and Darcy removed his arm. She sat up straight and looked up at him and said, "Mr. Darcy, please forgive me for resting against you, but I must have been comfortable as I slept very well. Was I asleep for long?"

"Miss Bennet, you notice that I did not disturb you. I have to admit that you felt very comfortable against me. It felt so natural. Please feel free to use me to sleep against any time. We will stop once again tonight, and then a longer day tomorrow should see us home. I hope the trip is not too long or tiring for you."

"Oh, no, it has not been tiring at all as we have stopped so often. It is just that I did not get to sleep right away last night. Georgie was too excited to sleep right away. Tonight should be better."

Georgie heard her words and said, "I was excited about your coming with us. I have been thinking of everything that we might do while you are there. I have missed your company so much."

As it had not rained recently, the roads were good and they made good time that day. They stopped at another nice inn for the night and Darcy requested that they get an earlier start the next day to make sure they would reach Pemberley at a decent time late the next afternoon. While at the inn, Darcy sent an express to Pemberley warning of their coming and telling his housekeeper to prepare a room near Georgiana's for her guest.

As they passed through Lambton the next afternoon, Georgie pointed out the shops that she liked to patronize. Then they entered the Pemberley woods and finally reached the house. The staff must have been watching for them as they were all lined up outside to greet them. The housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, recognized Miss Bennet when she was introduced. She remembered the disappointment that Miss Darcy had felt when she had not been able to reconnect with her friend when she had visited the estate from Lambton. She had been in the house for many years and so immediately saw from the way that Darcy looked at her that this was a special friend, indeed.

The footmen took the luggage and disappeared with it into a rear entrance while the passengers entered the front entrance. Lizzy remembered the opulence of the house and marveled that she now was a guest there. Mrs. Reynolds escorted Georgie and Miss Bennet to Lizzy's room. As Georgie had said when Lizzy stayed at Darcy House, this room was even larger and more lavishly furnished. Mrs. Reynolds opened a door and showed her into the adjoining dressing room where a maid was already putting Lizzy's clothes away.

Mrs. Reynolds said, "Miss Bennet, this is Frances, who will serve as your lady's maid while you are here. If there is anything you need, just ask her. She is very good with hair, as well. Would you like to bathe after such a long trip?"

"That would be very welcome. It was a long trip, but we were lucky as the roads were quite good."

Georgie spoke up then as Frances went out to organize the bath. "Mrs. Reynolds, Miss Bennet likes to read, so would you mind finding a small bookcase to put in the bedroom? Lizzy, our library here is very extensive and I know that you will love it. Fitzwilliam will not mind if you borrow anything you want and bring it up here."

Mrs. Reynolds said, "I will have a bookcase brought here. Dinner will be in about an hour, so you will have time to bathe and dress. Frances will show you where to go."

As Georgie and Mrs. Reynolds were leaving, Georgie said, "Lizzy, I am also going to bathe and change for dinner. I will see you downstairs in an hour."

As Frances was organizing the bath, Lizzy familiarized herself with the wonderful suite of rooms she had been given. When she looked out the window, she saw that it faced east and overlooked the small lake that was just beside the house and the part of the gardens that were beside the lake. She realized that the morning sun would wake her if she left the curtain open a bit. She looked forward to rising early to explore the grounds. She could not but wonder if Mr. Darcy was an early riser as well.

While she was soaking in the tub, which was large enough for her to stretch out to immerse herself, Frances was finishing putting away her clothes. "You have some very nice clothes, Miss Bennet. They are right up-to-date and their colour will suit you very well. I will set out a gown for dinner."

"Miss Darcy and I went shopping when we were in town last fall. She knows the best modistes."

Frances helped her dress and did her hair very nicely. Lizzy thought that she looked quite nice when she looked in the large mirror. Frances led her down to the drawing room where Darcy was waiting. He looked at her with great admiration.

He rose and said, "Miss Bennet, you look lovely. That gown is perfect for you."

Lizzy curtsied to him and said, "I thank you for your compliment, sir. Georgie has great taste; she helped picked this out for me when we were in town."

"The gown only enhances your beauty; it does it very well." He took her hand and said, "May I?" He looked into her eyes and kissed her hand. Lizzy blushed at his words and kiss.

Georgie and Mrs. Annesley came in then and she smiled at what she saw. "Lizzy, you look wonderful. Is that one of the gowns we bought in town?"

"Yes, it is. If you remember, you picked out this fabric and the pattern. The modiste knows her work. I will have to rely on your judgment in the future whenever I need to buy new clothes."

Just then the butler came in and announced that dinner was served. Darcy offered Lizzy his arm and kept smiling at her all the way to a small dining room. He sat her at one side of him, and Georgie on his other side. Georgie dominated the conversation by talking about all the things she would like to do while Lizzy was here. "Lizzy, tomorrow I would like to go to Lambton to show you the shops and look for a couple of small items that I need. Fitzwilliam, did you have any other plans for what we might do?"

"Nothing right away. What I would like to do when the weather is warm is to use the open carriage to drive around the park to show Miss Bennet some of the nicer spots. I would also like to take a longer drive to see some of the more interesting local features, again when the weather is nice. We might take a picnic lunch and make a day of it.

"As the Matlocks are at their estate, we might go to make a short visit to them. Miss Bennet, the Matlock estate is in Derbyshire and only a few hours from here. I understand that you have met our Uncle and Aunt. I know that they approved of you most highly.

"Something else that should happen. Bingley mentioned that he and Mrs. Bingley will be escorting his sisters to their relatives who live north of here after they return from their wedding trip. I told him that he should stop in here on their way. Miss Bennet, I assume that you would like to see your sister?"

"I certainly would! Thank you, sir, for thinking of me. Does that mean that Miss Bingley will be staying here? For how long?" Lizzy looked at Georgie, knowing how Miss Bingley had upset her."

"Not long, I assure you. I will tell Bingley that we will allow them only one or two nights before they continue. I will ask Bingley to stay here longer, if he wants."

Georgie entered the conversation, "It would be very nice to have the newlyweds stay here. I sure hope that you can get Miss Bingley to continue her journey as quickly as you suggest. I believe that she would prefer to stay here for a lot longer, especially if Lizzy is here."

After dinner, the ladies entertained Darcy on the piano, but they did not stay up late as they had had a long day traveling. Darcy walked them up and said goodnight, then went back down to the library for a final glass of brandy. He just sat there with the glass in his hand, dreaming of possibilities. He knew that he had to make the best of this opportunity to be with Miss Bennet. The more he saw of her, the more he found to value in her. Besides her great intelligence and warm personality, he had to admit to himself that he was very attracted to her. We wondered what she thought of him.


	13. Chapter 13

As Lizzy had left the curtains open a bit, the first rays of sunshine woke her. She opened the window wide and just enjoyed the view. She quickly went into the dressing room and put on a simple day dress without calling for Frances. She went out of her room and went down the stairs.

The footman on duty asked, "May I assist you, Miss Bennet? The breakfast room is just over there. The staff is just beginning to put out a few things."

"Thank you. I still do not know the house." She went into the breakfast room and surprised the footmen who were setting it up. "Good morning," she said to them. They all bowed politely to her and returned her greeting. She took a fresh muffin and went back out to the footman who had first greeted her. "I would like to visit the gardens. Which is the best door to use?" He led her to a side door that led out to the side of the house.

She went out and immediately smelled the flowers in the still air that was just a bit cool so early in the morning. She saw that several gardeners were already there, working to keep the weeds under control. She just wandered up and down the pathways, smelling any flower that caught her attention. She would dearly love to pick some to carry with her, but, as a guest, she did not dare. She saw that she had only visited a small part of the flower beds. She looked yearningly at the extensive woods that beckoned just beyond the gardens, but knew they would have to wait for another day.

Meanwhile, Darcy had come down the stairs as he was also an early riser. The same footman who had greeted Elizabeth said, "Good morning, Mr. Darcy. Miss Bennet has already come down and is now in the gardens. I showed her where to go when she asked."

"Good morning, Gordon. You did the right thing. When she comes back in, make sure that she knows where the breakfast room is." Darcy went to a window and saw Miss Bennet admiring the flowers. He stood there for several minutes, admiring the view, and then he went to the breakfast room. The footman watched his Master watching Miss Bennet from the corner of his eyes but did not comment on what he saw until he went below stairs. The staff quickly realized just how important a guest she was. From then on, she was treated quite differently from other guests. Even Mrs. Reynolds heard about this and realized that Miss Bennet just might become a future Mistress of Pemberley.

When Lizzy came back in, she went straight to the breakfast room and found only Mr. Darcy there. "Good morning, Mr. Darcy. It is a beautiful morning. Your flowers are lovely. My compliments to your gardeners."

Darcy rose politely when she entered. He noticed that her eyes were shining and her complexion was rosy from being out so early. He smiled his warm smile at her, which she automatically returned. "Good morning, Miss Bennet. I hope you slept well? I see that you are still an early riser. I am pleased that you enjoyed our gardens, but I am sure that you saw only a small part of them. Perhaps tomorrow I might join you and show you more of them and tell you some of their history? You are certainly welcome to go anywhere on the grounds at any time. I will only ask that you stay in sight of the house until you learn some of the trails in the woods unless you have someone with you." Darcy reminded himself that he would have to tell the gardeners to keep her in sight at all times so she would not get lost.

"If you have time after breakfast, I will show you more of the house than you saw on your tour with your relatives. I believe that you will find the library much to your liking. Then I know that Georgiana wants to take you to Lambton. As it is such a nice day, the open barouche will be perfect. It will seat you three ladies quite easily."

"I am looking forward to visiting Lambton as my Aunt Gardiner was raised there and found some acquaintances still living there when we were here. She was Madeline Barrie then and her father owned a shop there before he moved the family to London. He has done very well in town. I took Georgie to his warehouse to look at some of his fabrics."

"Georgie mentioned that and said that she was very impressed with his stock. I am very impressed with the gowns that she had made from his fabrics. She also said that she liked the Gardiners and enjoyed being with their children. She likes children but rarely has a chance to be around any. I am glad that you introduced her to your relatives. She needs a wider range of acquaintances to help her overcome her shyness. I know that just being with you has helped her a lot. She told me that you are aware of the situation that she was in last summer in Ramsgate."

"Yes, she did. Poor Georgie, to be taken in by an experienced seducer. I talked to her about men like him. She had only known real gentlemen like you before. She will never let that happen again."

"Miss Bennet, I thank you for calling me a real gentleman, but we both know that I have serious faults with my temper and ungentlemanly words. You made me see that my words can hurt many people. I promise you that I learned a good lesson from that day and I have been trying to keep control of my temper. I can only ask that if you see any sign of my failings again, that you should frown at me so I remember. I will definitely notice a frown on your lovely face. You are very attractive, especially when you smile; just as you are now."

"Mr. Darcy! Please! You are making me blush."

Just then, Georgie and Mrs. Annesley entered the breakfast room and Georgie said, "Fitzwilliam, are you embarrassing Lizzy? You be nice to her. But good morning to you both. I thought that you two would find that you are both early risers. It looks to be a fine day today."

Lizzy replied, "I was already out admiring the wonderful flowers in your garden. I was tempted to pick some, but thought that your gardeners might not appreciate that."

"Miss Bennet, please feel free to pick whatever tempts you. The gardeners will never miss them." Darcy made sure that fresh flowers were placed in her room every day, which she noticed and appreciated.

After breakfast, the ladies got ready for their trip to Lambton. When they were ready, Darcy helped them enter the open barouche and told them to have a good time. Two footmen rode as outriders behind the carriage and followed them into Lambton. When Lizzy noticed them, she asked, "Is your brother always so concerned about your safety that he has outriders with you? Is the area unsafe?"

Georgie laughed, "The area is quite safe as Fitzwilliam follows up on all reports of any problems that might occur anywhere in the district. He and the magistrate are harsh on any criminals and they will not tolerate the slightest infringement of the laws. Even the gypsies avoid the area as they are watched for any improper behaviour.

"He insists on the outriders just for show as Pemberley is the most important estate in the whole district. He says that the people expect a show from us. We employ a lot of locals and the outriders are always from local families. We hear that they love to show off their positions, riding skills, and livery in the village and they vie for the chance to come with us. We also hear that the local girls are impressed when they see them, which makes them even more eager to come with us."

One of the outriders dismounted and assisted the ladies down. Lizzy noticed that the people on the street stopped to look at the carriage and who was in it. They wandered down the street and entered the shop that sold fabrics and clothes. The proprietor curtsied very politely to the ladies. "Miss Darcy, Mrs. Annesley, welcome. It is very nice to see you again. Is there something that I might show you today?"

"We are just looking around today. This is my friend, Miss Bennet. Lizzy, this is Mrs. Gordon. It is her shop."

Mrs. Gordon looked at Lizzy. "Were you not here this summer with Madeline Gardiner who was Madeline Barrie? Are you her niece?"

"Yes, I am. Thank you for remembering me. There are a couple of things that I did not pack, if you have them." Word that the former Madeline Barrie's niece was a guest at Pemberley was soon known throughout the village.

The ladies looked at the items in the shop and Lizzy found what that she needed. When she went to pay, Georgie said, "Lizzy, do not worry about that. Mrs. Gordon, please just send the bill to my brother. We do quite a bit of business here and we have standing accounts with all of the shops." The footman who had helped them picked up their purchases and took them to the carriage.

The ladies wandered down the street, stopping at several shops, especially the bookshop. They ended their visit at the pastry shop that also sold tea. Here, they rested with cups before going back to Pemberley. Lizzy again saw that many people noticed them, but no one bothered them.

That afternoon, Darcy and Georgie led Lizzy further around the grounds surrounding the house while Mrs. Annesley rested. Lizzy saw that there were many paths into the woods that she wanted to explore further. Darcy surprised them as he had arranged for tea to be served by the lake after their walking tour. Everything that Lizzy saw about Pemberley and their life here impressed her very greatly. She thought that to be Mistress of such a fine estate would be something, indeed. She began to consider Darcy even more carefully. She saw how solicitous he was of her and began to regret that her original judgment of him had been so harsh. She realized that her changing her opinion of him because he was so handsome, especially when he smiled, was far too superficial. She now appreciated him more because of his excellent manners. She knew that she was developing feelings for him and she wondered if he could ever return her regard.

The days seemed to go by quickly. Whenever the weather was nice, they rode out, often accompanied by Darcy as their tour guide. Lizzy spent many hours in the gardens and woods, extending her rambles further each day, accompanied either by Darcy, Georgie, or a gardener. Early each morning, she and Darcy were in the gardens before breakfast. Dinners were always fine, with good food and conversation, usually followed by music. Whenever Lizzy played or sang, Darcy just sat there entranced with her performance. She often found herself dreaming of spending her whole life just like this.


	14. Chapter 14

One morning at breakfast, after Darcy and Elizabeth had come in from their walk but before Georgiana had come down, Darcy was looking through the correspondence that he had just received. He said to Elizabeth, "This is interesting. Some months ago, Bingley had talked about taking his sisters to their relatives north of here this summer. I told him that he should stop in on their way. He says that he has now finalized his plans and will be here next week. Miss Bennet, of course he will be with his new bride, your sister. At his wedding, I told him that he should think about staying here with Mrs. Bingley while sending his sisters on their way."

Lizzy expressed her excitement, "Mr. Darcy, that is wonderful news! I would love to see Jane and talk to her about her marriage and her new life. She and I have always been very close. But please tell me, does Miss Bingley know that I am here?"

"I am not sure; she may not as we finalized our plans right after their wedding and the turmoil of their farewells likely meant they did not hear about it. I assume that you are thinking that Miss Bingley will be very upset when she finds you here?"

"Yes. Will Mr. Bingley really be able to get his sisters to continue on their trip knowing that I am here with Georgiana? I have a feeling that she may want to stay here for a lot longer than just one or two nights. I believe that she will not be happy to see me here, especially when you are here. Her being here will not be good for Georgie. I remember how much Miss Bingley upset her at Netherfield."

"You are right, as usual, Miss Bennet. Not only will she end up distressing Georgie, she will not be nice to you. She can be very jealous. I will talk to Bingley about our concerns. Hopefully he will be able to get them to continue on their journey up north. I will speak to Mrs. Reynolds about getting their rooms ready." With a smile, he said, "I believe I will tell her to get the blue suite ready for the newlyweds. It is very nice and at the end of the guest wing so they will be away from everyone else. Do you think your sister will appreciate being so isolated from everyone else with her new husband?"

"Mr. Darcy! Are you teasing me, or trying to embarrass me?" Lizzy blushed at the implication inherent in his question, but welcomed this playful aspect of him, which she had rarely seen before.

Darcy chuckled at her discomfort. "Well, they are newlyweds and just might want a bit of privacy. Would you mind talking to Mrs. Reynolds and going with her to inspect the blue suite to make sure that your sister will be satisfied with it? Please feel free to suggest any changes that you want. You know your sister best."

Lizzy did not recognize that he was asking her to fulfill another of the duties that would normally be undertaken by the mistress of the house. After breakfast, she and Georgie went to speak to Mrs. Reynolds. They jointly decided which rooms would be assigned for the Hursts and Miss Bingley. Lizzy did not realize that the rooms that Mrs. Reynolds suggested were not the best guest suites and were not in the most desirable locations. Mrs. Reynolds had already met these guests and was well aware just how demanding they would be. However, when they went to the blue suite, Lizzy appreciated just how nice this was, and how isolated. She knew that Jane liked the colour blue, so this was appropriate. She made suggestions for only a few changes that would make Jane's stay even more comfortable.

When the Bingleys arrived, Lizzy was pleased to see that they came in two carriages so that the party could easily separate into two groups. They went out to greet them and she threw herself into Jane's arms as soon as she stepped from the carriage. Jane knew that Lizzy was at Pemberley as she and her husband had come from Netherfield, joining his sisters in London.

No one had told Caroline that Lizzy was there, so she was stunned when she saw her greeting her sister. Lizzy was so busy with Jane that she did not notice the shock and fury on Caroline's face. "Miss Eliza! What are you doing here?"

After releasing Jane, Lizzy very politely greeted Mr. Bingley and the Hursts, then said, "Good day to you Miss Bingley. I am visiting Georgiana as her special friend." Lizzy noticed that the greetings she received from the Hursts were not all that friendly.

Miss Bingley was still not satisfied, "How long have you been here?"

"We came here directly after the Bingleys' wedding." Lizzy decided that she should annoy Miss Bingley even more. "We have been having a very good time. There is so much to do here. We have not had a moment of boredom and still have plenty of plans."

Darcy saw what was happening, so he ushered them all into the house before Miss Bingley could think of another bitter retort. While Bingley and his sisters had been there before, Jane had not. She was very impressed with everything she saw and also noticed how comfortable Lizzy was with the Darcys and their staff. Darcy asked Mrs. Reynolds to show the Hursts and Miss Bingley to their rooms and Lizzy and Georgie led the Bingleys to the blue suite. When they went into this suite, Jane was amazed at how large and luxurious it was. Lizzy and Georgie showed them around and introduced them to the valet and lady's maid who would serve them while they were here. They invited them to come down for tea when they were settled in.

When everyone gathered in the drawing room, Caroline could not help herself and began to attack Lizzy. "Well, Eliza, I did not know you were here. You say that you came straight from the wedding? I am surprised. I had not heard anything about that."

Darcy saw that he had to intervene before Miss Bingley went too far. "Bingley, I assume that your plans are still that your sisters will be continuing their journey up north in just a day or so but that you and Mrs. Bingley will stay with us for some weeks?"

Caroline interrupted, "Charles, we cannot possibly leave so soon. I would like to stay here for some weeks as well. I love Pemberley as much as if it were my own home and I feel that Georgiana is just like another sister to me."

Bingley saw that Darcy expected that they would keep to their plans that he had laid out when they were invited to stop at Pemberley on their journey to their relatives in the north of England. He also saw that he could not possibly allow his sister to stay here as her bitter words could easily destroy his friendship with Darcy. "Caroline, I already told Darcy that your stop here would be very brief. We have to keep to our original plans if you are to have a decent stay with our relatives. Mrs. Bingley and I will stay here and you will continue on as we had planned. We are staying only so that my wife will have a good visit with her sister; so please, do not try to change the plans. You will go with the Hursts either tomorrow or the next day." Everyone was quite surprised to see this more resolute Bingley. The Darcys and Elizabeth assumed that part of this transformation was to the credit of his new wife.

Caroline smoldered at the thought that Elizabeth Bennet would be here but she would not. She wondered what she could do to force a change in her plans. Darcy saw that she was not pleased and decided that he had better speak to Bingley about holding them to their plans, no matter what his sister attempted.

Dinner that night was not pleasant as Caroline kept trying to embarrass Lizzy and put herself forward to both Darcy and Georgiana. When Georgiana led the ladies from the table, Darcy took this opportunity to talk to Bingley about Caroline's behaviour. Bingley had been uncomfortable with his sister's words even though his attention had been focused almost exclusively on his wife. Darcy was so unhappy with Miss Bingley that he even asked Hurst to take her away as they had planned. He said that they could spend the next day resting, and then they should be gone. Even Hurst, who normally concentrated only on his food and drink, had been embarrassed by Caroline's behaviour. As a concession, Darcy invited Bingley and Hurst to spend the morning fishing as he knew how much they enjoyed this sport.

When the ladies went to the drawing room that contained a piano, Georgiana made sure to walk between Lizzy and Mrs. Annesley. She saw that Caroline wanted to be close to her, so the three of them sat on a sofa with Georgie still in the middle. Caroline sat on a smaller sofa and said, "Georgiana, I have not had a chance to talk to you, so please come to sit with me."

"Thank you, Miss Bingley, but I am quite comfortable here." She was finding that she was finding strength as long as she was so well protected by these two ladies and did not want to subject herself to Caroline's badgering. She had had more than enough of that at Netherfield.

Lizzy decided to help her friend, "Miss Bingley, perhaps you might entertain us with some music? I know that you are very accomplished."

Mrs. Annesley wanted to help, "Yes, please do. Some music would be nice just now."

With these entreaties, Caroline had no option but to go to the piano and look through the music. She found a piece and began to play furiously. Just after she finished this piece, the gentlemen joined them. They were with them for only a short time before Bingley turned to Jane and said, "My dear, I am quite tired from traveling all day. Are you ready to go up?" Jane smiled and nodded and took his arm to go up.

The Hursts were the next to go. They were followed by Mrs. Annesley and Georgiana. Although Caroline wanted to stay as long as Darcy remained, she saw that Elizabeth appeared to be ready to stay just as long as she was. She was loath to leave Darcy alone with her, so she stood and said, "Eliza, are you ready to go up?" She seemed to forget that Elizabeth had been staying at Pemberley for some weeks.

As Elizabeth had been just as unwilling to leave Darcy alone with Caroline, she rose and said, "I am ready. Good night, Mr. Darcy." She and Caroline went up. At the top of the stairs, Caroline turned toward the guest wing and was very surprised when Lizzy turned to the family wing.

"Eliza, where are you going? The guest wing is this way."

"My room is this way, next to Georgiana's." Caroline was shocked to learn that as she had never been invited to stay in the family wing. She fumed ever more. "Good night, Miss Bingley." Lizzy turned and left her at the top of the stairs.

Darcy was left alone with his glass of brandy. He sat there for some time, nursing his glass. His thoughts went on these two ladies. The contrast between them was stark; he had not appreciated how different Elizabeth was from most of the ladies he had met in town until Miss Bingley came to remind him just how vacuous and rude they all seemed to be. His thoughts drifted to her fine eyes, sparkling intelligence, and womanly body. He had to shake himself not to think of taking her up to his room and … Best not even to imagine that, no matter much he suddenly realized how much he wanted her.

The next day, the three gentlemen spent the whole morning fishing. Caroline was not pleased not to be with Darcy, so she suggested that they should walk outside. The ladies all did go out and soon they approached the fishermen who were busy at the lake. Caroline loudly praised what a fine fisherman Darcy was, how fine his casts were, how she expected that he would catch more fish than anyone else. Lizzy looked at Georgie and put her hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh. This made Georgie gasp and turn away so she would not embarrass herself with her own laughter. Even though Caroline wanted to stay to admire Darcy, Lizzy took Georgie's arm and suggested that they continue their walk. Even Jane, who had been admiring her husband, turned from him and went with the other ladies. Caroline knew that she could not stay behind, so she reluctantly left as well.

That evening, they ate fresh fish as the fishermen had been quite successful. Caroline kept talking about how she really wanted to stay longer, but Bingley told her that she and the Hursts had to keep to their schedule and would leave the next morning so they would not disappoint their relatives. After dinner, the ladies each took a turn to entertain on the piano. Only Lizzy added her voice to her playing, much to Darcy's complete delight.

Again, Bingley was the first to say that he was ready to go up. Lizzy noticed that Caroline tried to stay as long as Darcy stayed up, so she tried to vex her by saying, "Miss Bingley, are you ready to go up? She rose and waited for Caroline to rise as well. Caroline saw that she had been outmaneuvered and that she had not choice but to go up.

Tonight, Darcy was ready to retire as well, so he rose with the ladies. Caroline took his arm, so Lizzy began to go up ahead of them. At the top of the stairs, Darcy and Lizzy said good night to Caroline and they turned to the family wing. Caroline watched them go with a frown on her face. She saw that Darcy offered his arm to Lizzy, which infuriated Caroline even more as she saw that Lizzy readily accepted it as if it were the most natural thing in the world to do. This was something that he had never done for her, so she had always had to be the one to take his arm, even if he had not offered it.

Darcy and Lizzy reached her room first, so she let go of his arm and opened the door. Darcy just stood there, almost appearing as if he wanted something more. When Lizzy said, "Good night, Mr. Darcy," he took her hand and kissed it gently, smiling at her. She went in and closed the door, pondering about his behaviour as it was very apparent that he wanted to do something more than just kiss her hand. She wondered what it would feel like to be held in his arms to be kissed properly. She blushed at how quickly her thoughts turned to such improper behaviour. She had not thought that he had developed any regard for her, but now she was not sure. She knew that she was developing a strong affection for him.

The next morning, when Caroline did not appear in the breakfast room with the others, Bingley asked Louisa to go up to see where she was and to ensure that she was coming and not to accept any excuses. Louisa came back and said that Caroline said that she was unwell. Bingley was annoyed as he had hoped that Caroline would not try something like this. He said, "Louisa, I will come up with you and, if necessary, force her to get ready to go. I had hoped that she would not do this, but I will not accept her excuses. We will find her maid and insist that she get ready."

Some time later, Bingley and Louisa returned and Bingley said to Darcy, "Darcy, I am sorry about this. She is now up and is getting ready to go. What this means is that they will be leaving later that they had planned, but they will be going today."

Lizzy thought that it would be best if she and Georgie were not around when Caroline came down, so she said, "Georgie, Jane, are you ready to go?" Mrs. Annesley nodded to Georgiana and the four ladies left the breakfast room after Lizzy said, "Mr. Darcy, would you mind letting us know when their carriage is about to leave so we can say good-bye? We do not want to appear to be impolite to them." Darcy realized that Lizzy wanted to ensure that Georgie would avoid any unpleasantness that might happen when Miss Bingley showed up.

Darcy finally did come to let them know that the carriage was ready to depart, so the ladies all went out to say their farewells. They watched until the carriage was pulling away up the drive, and then they went back in, quietly sighing in relief.

The next two weeks were very pleasant for everyone at Pemberley. Darcy and Bingley spent a lot of time together as Bingley was still learning about managing an estate. Jane spent most of her time with Lizzy and Georgie. She shyly told them how much she was enjoying being a wife and how wonderful her husband was, but she carefully did not touch upon the physical joys of marital relations. When Jane thought about this aspect of her marriage, she blushed and was quiet, so Lizzy assumed that she knew what was in Jane's mind, although she was not sure about the details. Lizzy wondered if being with a man as handsome as Darcy would also make her blush afterwards. Georgie, in her maidenly innocence and lack of knowledge of the mechanics of male/female relations, missed much of this interplay. She did not realize that her not having been raised so closely with farm animals left a gap in her education.

Darcy saw how well the three young ladies interacted and the benefits to Georgie of having friends close to her own age. She was not the same traumatized young girl that she had been before meeting Elizabeth.

When the Bingleys' visit was over, the ladies all shed tears at their parting. Darcy realized that they would have to make a visit to Netherfield before too long.


	15. Chapter 15

Only a week after the Bingleys had left, as the summer was passing by so pleasantly, they were all at breakfast and Darcy was reading some of his voluminous daily correspondence, he said, "This is interesting. I had sent a letter to the Matlocks suggesting that we might go there for a couple of days, but here they say they want to come here to visit us. If we are agreeable, they plan to be here in just a couple of days. Georgie, what do you think?"

"Of course, we should welcome them. They met Lizzy last fall and liked her. I wonder why they want to come here rather than our going there?" In the back of her mind, she thought that they might be trying to determine just why Lizzy was here. They may have come to believe that Darcy had more serious plans for her, so they wanted to get to know her better.

Darcy knew that his staff was up to receiving an Earl and Countess as guests, so their life went on normally until the Matlocks arrived. Darcy had had the best guest suite prepared for them, so everything was ready. When they arrived, they greeted everyone very cordially, including Lizzy, whom they clearly remembered from town.

The main change while they were at Pemberley was that Darcy spent less time with the ladies and more time with the Earl. The Earl loved to shoot and fish, so they spent most of the days in these manly pursuits. The Countess spent her time with Georgie and Lizzy and even went into Lambton with them. The shopkeepers were very impressed to have their premises honoured by a real Countess, so the attention they received was above reproach. Lizzy noticed that the Countess spent a lot of time talking to her, which surprised her greatly. Georgie noticed this and believed that she had been correct in assuming that the Countess was assessing Lizzy as a possible addition to the family in case Darcy had serious plans for her.

The week that the Matlocks spent at Pemberley went by quickly and pleasantly. The night before they were to leave, the Countess spoke to her husband, "Did you get the information from Darcy that we had wondered about? Is he serious about Miss Bennet? Do you think he might offer for her?"

"From what I gather, he is unsure of his feelings for her. It is obvious that he is very attracted to her and is developing a strong regard for her, but he is fighting his attraction. I believe that his main hesitation is whether her relatively low social status and lack of connections might affect his standing in town, and especially for Georgiana's future. You have spent a lot of time with her. What is your assessment of her? Will she embarrass him and us in town?"

"The more I see of Miss Bennet, the better I like her. She will be perfect for Darcy, in spite of her lack of connections. That problem will be easy to overcome if I serve as her sponsor to introduce her into society. Her manners and speech are impeccable. She has also captured Georgiana's affection and has already been a very good influence on her. She is not the same girl that she was a year ago; she is now a confident young lady. I saw that the household staff, especially the housekeeper, is treating her as if Miss Bennet were already the Mistress. They know that something is in the air. I will have no hesitation in telling Darcy that he should pursue her to make her his bride. Do you want to talk to him about this, or should I?"

"I think our recommendations will be stronger if we talk to him together. We do not need to leave early, so we will make sure we find a chance to see him alone in the morning."

In the morning, they did talk to Darcy and his Uncle told him that he should stop dithering and begin a formal pursuit of Miss Bennet, even a courtship. The Countess emphasized that she highly approved of her and would gladly sponsor her in town. Darcy promised that he would consider what they said very carefully. They invited the whole party to come to Matlock in just a couple weeks.

The days before their visit to Matlock were enjoyed just as much as they had been all summer. The only change that Lizzy noticed was that Darcy seemed to treat her just a bit differently; he was making an effort to be more charming and solicitous of her. He talked to her more about the estate, its staff, and tenants. He began to involve her more into the inner workings of managing such a large estate with responsibility for so many people. Although Lizzy did not know it, he hinted to Mrs. Reynolds that she might begin to involve Lizzy more in the running of the house. Mrs. Reynolds did not mention that she had already been doing that for weeks. This change in attitude toward her made Lizzy wonder if he had decided that she was indeed worthy of being his wife. She automatically responded by being more affectionate with him, although not too overtly. She smiled at him more, which resulted in his smiling more in turn. Georgiana noticed this slight change in their relationship and she made sure that they had a bit more time alone.

When they went to the Matlock estate, they were welcomed warmly. Lizzy admired the Matlock mansion and extensive grounds, but she thought that it was not nearly as fine as Pemberley. She did not realize it, but she was already identifying with Pemberley almost as her home. When they were welcomed into the house, Lizzy noticed that Colonel Fitzwilliam was with his parents. She had not seen him since Jane's wedding, but his greetings were especially warm. He took both her hands and kissed them, which embarrassed her greatly. She looked at Darcy and saw that he obviously did not appreciate this show of affection by his cousin.

After they had been shown up to their rooms and refreshed themselves, they met in a drawing room for tea. Richard immediately sat beside Lizzy and monopolized her attention. Darcy and Georgiana were relegated to speaking to their Aunt and Uncle. At dinner that night, Richard managed to sit beside Lizzy and again spoke almost exclusively with her. Georgiana noticed that her brother was not pleased at his cousin's attentions to Elizabeth.

When the Countess led the ladies from the table, the gentlemen were left to enjoy their port and cigars. Richard immediately began to attack Darcy. "Well, Darcy, are you still insulting Miss Bennet? How has she managed to remain with you at Pemberley all this time? I thought by now that she would have run away from you again."

Darcy saw that Richard was only trying to make him angry. He knew very well that his relationship with Miss Bennet was progressing well and that he had the support of Richard's parents if he decided to pursue her more seriously. "Richard, we are cousins and have been so close to each other that you seem more like a brother to me. We will always be cousins, no matter what happens, so I hope that you will not do anything rash that might cause a split between us. It is obvious that you are interested in Miss Bennet, but I am not sure if she returns your regard. I suggest that, rather than damaging our friendship, you continue to shower your attention on her and see what happens. I have complete faith in Miss Bennet and her intelligence, so, if she decides that her future will be with you, so be it. However, if she decides against you, I expect that if you are a gentleman, you will accept her decision with no hesitation and continue to treat her as a lady."

The Earl decided that he had to intervene before his son said something that would cause a serious rift between the two branches of the family. "Richard, do not say another word. You heard what Darcy said and I agree with him. Make your best effort to gain her regard, but accept whatever she decides. No more attacks on Darcy; I doubt that this will increase her affection for you in any case. She is too intelligent for that. I am impressed by Miss Bennet and would like to see her join our family in some way. I already told you that if she accepts you and the army agrees to let you resign, I will help you by giving you an independence. However, the army has said they need you until the problems with the French are over, so there is no urgency at this point in time. If she does accept your advances, it may be years before you are in a position to settle down with her, so I do not see why you are pushing your suit so hard right now unless it is only to reduce her obvious regard for Darcy. I believe that it would be better for you if you used sweet words rather than bitter.

"Now, enough of this. Let us go join the ladies."

Richard knew that he did not dare go against his father as he was totally dependent on him, so he did lessen his bitterness toward Darcy and stepped up his attentions to Elizabeth. Both Darcy and Georgiana saw this and tried to decide what Lizzy was thinking.

One of the last evenings before the end of their visit, Georgie went up with Lizzy and stepped into her room. "Lizzy, we will be going back to Pemberley very soon. I have watched Richard paying a lot of attention to you. I have made it no secret that I have long hoped that you and my brother will come to an understanding, but now I see that Richard is quite desperate for your regard. I know that this is very personal, but I wanted to make sure that you know what my hopes are."

"Georgie, I understand your interest in this. Of course, I have noticed how much attention the Colonel has been paying to me. I admit that it is flattering to have the son of an Earl practically paying court to me, but I do understand what his position is. He cannot do anything until the army releases him, which may be years from now. I will promise you that I will consider whatever he says very carefully, if he says anything at all. I cannot say any more than that at this time. Please do not worry about me. I am enjoying my visit here but am looking forward to going back to Pemberley with you."

Georgie had to be satisfied with this, even though she had hoped that Lizzy would have been more forthcoming in her description of the depths of her regard for Darcy. Georgiana still worried about her brother's happiness and wished that he would make up his mind about Lizzy. She did not want to push him as she was not sure why he was hesitating to be more forward with her.

The next day, Richard found a chance to talk to Elizabeth alone when he saw her in the gardens. "Miss Bennet, I know that I may be premature in talking about this, but I cannot tolerate not knowing any longer. I am sure that you have realized that my attentions to you have not been frivolous and with no long-term intentions. You know that I am not able to marry at the moment because of my financial position and my commitment to the army. The generals have told me that they need me until the war with the French is over, which may be several years in the future. My father has already told me that he will give me an estate when I am ready to marry, so the financial considerations are not serious.

"Elizabeth, I have long admired you very much and believe that we would make a great couple. I am not in a position to ask for any commitment from you now, but please let me know if you are willing to wait for me."

Elizabeth had certainly noticed the increase in his attentions to her and she wondered if he would say something to her while they were at Matlock. "Colonel, I have certainly noticed the attention that you have been paying to me and assumed that it had a serious purpose. I understand the great compliment that you are paying me. However, I have to tell you that I am not in a position to say that I will wait for you."

"Is that all that you will say? Will you not give me a reason for not wanting to wait for me?"

"I can only say that my heart belongs to another."

"Is it Darcy? I cannot understand how it could be as he does not treat you with any particular affection that I have noticed."

"You cannot ask me for any more details. This is just too personal. We cannot talk about this any more. Please excuse me." Lizzy ran into the house.

Richard watched her go, with great disappointment. His anger at Darcy rose again. He did not deserve her! Unknown to them, Georgiana had been watching them from a window. When she saw Lizzy run into the house, she wondered if she should go to her, but decided to confront her cousin. She went out to the garden.

"Richard, I just saw Lizzy run into the house. Did you upset her? What did you say to her?"

Richard was too upset to hold his tongue. "I merely asked if she would wait for me until my position was more assured and I was in a position to consider marrying. She said that she would not wait for me as her heart belongs to another! I just know it is Darcy, but she would not say who it was. He does not deserve her! She would be perfect for me. Darcy does not realize what a jewel she is. How can he be so obtuse about all of this?"

Georgie was torn between sympathizing with Richard for his thwarted aspirations and her desire that her brother end up with Lizzy. However, her filial bond was stronger, so she merely said kind words to Richard and then went to find Darcy. She found him in the library which also overlooked the garden. From his dark frown, she thought that he had also watched Richard and Lizzy. He would have seen that she had also spoken to Richard.

"Fitzwilliam, why are you frowning so much? Did you watch Richard talking to Lizzy in the garden? Then you saw how she ran into the house and that I went out to speak to him. He said that he had asked Lizzy to wait for him, but she said that she would not as her heart belongs to another! Fitzwilliam, do you not realize what this means? There is only one person who could have captured her heart. If you want her, go to her right now. Talk to her from your heart. You have my full support and that of our Aunt and Uncle. Please go find her." She gave her brother a hug for encouragement.

"Where is she?"

"Probably in her room. Would you like me to go find her?"

"Please. Ask if she will come to me in the library."


	16. Chapter 16

Georgie went up to Lizzy's room and knocked on the door. "Who is it?"

"Lizzy, it is Georgie. May I come in to talk to you?"

She was invited in and she saw that Lizzy was sitting in a chair, obviously just thinking. "Lizzy, I spoke to Richard and know what he asked of you and what you replied. I also spoke to my brother and told him that he had to talk to you from his heart. I am here to beg that you go to him to let him speak. He is in the library waiting for you. Please give him a chance."

Lizzy had been sitting there wondering if she should have replied differently to Richard as she had not had the slightest indication from Darcy that he admired her, even though he had seemed to pay more attention to her recently. She knew that her life with Richard would be very comfortable and that being the daughter-in-law of an Earl would open many doors to her and her whole family. She knew that she did not need to live on a great estate as she had lived her whole life at Longbourn, which was decidedly neither large nor wealthy. However, she was enjoying the luxury of Pemberley; that she could not deny.

Now Georgie seemed to be saying that Darcy wanted to talk to her about their future. She had never heard anything from him that might indicate that he might have developed feelings for him, even though she knew that she wanted him to as she knew that he was the perfect partner for her. She looked up at Georgie and smiled. "Georgie, you know that he has never given me any indication that he has developed any feelings for me. Do you really think that he has and just has not said anything? What is holding him back? Is it my background? Did I upset him somehow?"

"Lizzy, I believe it has been his concern for me and my future. If the people in town believe that he married someone completely unsuitable, then that could harm my chances when I come out. However, both my Aunt and my Uncle have already told him that they will be quite happy to sponsor you in society, so that is no longer a consideration. I do not know for sure, but I believe that his concerns are no longer valid. He may finally have come to a decision about you. Please go to him and hear what he has to say."

Lizzy nodded and followed Georgie to the library, where she found Darcy pacing. She went in and shut the door. He stopped pacing and turned to her. "Miss Bennet, Elizabeth; I understand that Richard asked you to wait for him until he is in a position to marry, but that you told him that you could not as your heart belongs to another. Do I have this all correct?"

Lizzy was watching him closely. "Yes, that is what happened."

Darcy took her hands in his. "Elizabeth, I know that circumstances delayed our meeting and that I said unforgivable words about your family, but I realize they are your family and you will love them no matter what. I have seen just how good a friend you have been to Georgiana right from the beginning. When we finally met at Bingley's wedding, I admit that your beauty was the first thing that I noticed about you, but I quickly began to see just what a remarkable lady you are. I admit that I was very hesitant to admit my increasing feelings even to myself as I worried about Georgiana's future, but my admiration of you has grown every day since then.

"Elizabeth, I love you and can only hope that you return my regard to some degree. I believe that you will make the perfect wife for me and, if you accept me, I will do whatever I need to do to be a good husband for you. I cannot imagine being with anyone other than you. I have never met any woman who is as wonderful as you are. If you have any feelings for me at all, or even if you believe that your regard for me will grow, then I will do whatever you want to wait for you. For now, I can only ask that you give me some indication about your feelings for me. I love you with all my heart." He took her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes.

"Mr. Darcy; Fitzwilliam, when I told the Colonel that my heart belonged to another, it was you. I have hesitated to show you any special regard as I was uncertain if you returned my feelings. I love you and will agree to whatever you want, if it is a formal courtship or a betrothal."

Darcy saw her smile at him and decided that he had waited him long enough. He went down on one knee and said, "Elizabeth, my Elizabeth! I love you and ask that you agree to become my wife. Will you marry me?"

"Fitzwilliam, this is the second time you have been on your knees to me. This time I can happily say, 'Arise, Sir Husband.' Yes, I will marry you whenever you want."

Darcy got up and took her into his arms. "May I kiss you to seal our agreement?"

Lizzy did not answer, but turned her face up to him with a smile. He took this as an assent and kissed her very gently, then pulled her closer to him, holding her against him. "Elizabeth, my Elizabeth. I will do whatever I can to make you happy; that I promise with all my heart." He held her for some minutes, and then quietly said, "Do you want to tell everyone while we are here, or later?"

"We might as well tell them now. I do want Georgie to be the first to hear, though. Shall we go find her?"

He kissed her once more, just a bit longer this time, then took her hand and led her out. They were not surprised to find that Georgie was waiting for them outside the library. "Well?" was all that she said.

Lizzy gave her a big smile, and then said, "Georgie, my new sister!"

Georgie squealed and ran to hold them both in her arms. "I am so happy! Congratulations to you both. Have you set a date?"

Her brother answered, "Not yet, I have to ask for formal permission from Mr. Bennet first. Elizabeth, do you want to wait long?"

"No. We have waited long enough already. I would like to marry from Longbourn, just as Jane did. Will that be all right with you, Fitzwilliam?"

"Whatever you want, my dear. The sooner the better for me as well. I believe that we should go find my Aunt and Uncle now. Richard will not be happy."

They went to the sitting room where they found the three Fitzwilliams. When they went in, Darcy was still holding Lizzy's hand, which Richard noticed immediately. Darcy said, "We have an announcement to make. I have asked Miss Bennet to be my wife and she has agreed."

His Aunt was the first to rise and reply, "Darcy, Miss Bennet; no, I will call you Elizabeth now, so please just call me Aunt. I am so happy for you both. Darcy, it is about time you started a family." Lizzy blushed at this thought. "Where and when will the wedding be?"

Lizzy answered, "I would like to marry from my home of Longbourn in Hertfordshire. We have not set a date, but in about a month from now."

The Earl went to them and kissed her hand, "Miss Bennet, I am happy that Darcy finally saw how wonderful you are. You two will be very happy. I would like you to call me Uncle and I will call you Elizabeth.

"Richard! Come here to congratulate them."

Richard did come, although reluctantly. His face showed just how unhappy he was. "Darcy, I do congratulate you both. I just hope that you will make her happy. She is a wonderful lady. She deserves nothing but the best."

The Earl became quite practical then. "Darcy, now that you are formally engaged, it would not be proper for Miss Bennet to stay with you at Pemberley. You were all going to go there tomorrow."

"You are right. I have to go to Hertfordshire to see Mr. Bennet. There is nothing urgent that requires my attendance at Pemberley at the moment. Elizabeth, Georgie; what if you two go to Pemberley to pack up whatever clothes you need and then take the carriage to Longbourn? Elizabeth, I assume that Georgie will be welcome to stay with you? If I can use one of the Matlock carriages, I will go to town to have the marriage settlement prepared, then I will go to see Mr. Bennet straight from there and stay with my friend Bingley at Netherfield, which is very close to Longbourn. I can send him an express so that he will expect me. Georgie, take my valet to Pemberley to pack my clothes and take him and your maids with you. Does that cover everything?"

No one had any further suggestions. Georgie asked, "We usually spend Christmas at Pemberley, then go to town for the season. Will we do that again this year?"

Darcy looked at Elizabeth, and then said, "That should work out, if Elizabeth is all right with that. A month until our wedding, then a wedding trip, then back to Pemberley in time for Christmas. Now, Georgie, where would you like to go while we are on our trip?"

The Countess said, "That is not a problem. You will be very welcome to stay with us. We will be at the wedding, so we can bring you back to town with us afterwards."

They settled a few more details, and then went to get ready for dinner, which was a merry affair, except that Richard was unusually quiet. Darcy saw that he was not happy so he decided to tease him. "Richard, do not worry about losing my Elizabeth. She has three more sisters at home. One of them just might take pity on a lonely red-coated officer."

"If any of them are half as remarkable as Miss Elizabeth, I just might consider it. I doubt that any of them are nearly as attractive, though." Lizzy was watching Darcy as he rolled his eyes at this statement.

Darcy and Elizabeth sent off two express messages, one to Bingley, and one to Longbourn in which Lizzy told them to expect her and Miss Darcy to come to stay for a month. She also warned her father to expect a visit from Darcy and that she hoped that he would receive Darcy very kindly as he had something very important to ask him.


	17. Chapter 17

They left Matlock as they had planned; Darcy, using one of the Matlock carriages to go to Hertfordshire via London, and Lizzy and Georgie in Darcy's carriage to go to Pemberley. When the ladies reached Pemberley, Mrs. Reynolds was surprised that Darcy was not with them. Georgiana told her that Darcy had gone to Miss Bennet's father to ask for her hand. "Miss Bennet, I am so pleased to hear that. I can assure you that I and the whole staff are delighted that you will be our new Mistress. We will be looking forward to serving you. We want only the best for the Darcys and will help you in any way that we can."

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Reynolds. I can assure you that you and all of your staff have made my stay here most enjoyable. I am looking forward to being here. Our plans are that we will be going to my home in Hertfordshire where we will marry in about a month, and then Mr. Darcy and I will make a wedding trip while Miss Darcy stays with the Matlocks in town. We will all be back here in time for Christmas.

"Speaking of Christmas, are there special events that you normally hold then?"  
"We have not done much in the past few years, but previously the Darcys would hold a concert and party for all of the children of the tenants, staff, and neighbours for Christmas Eve day. They would also invite friends and neighbours who had no family with whom they could celebrate to come for Christmas dinner. They even held a ball on New Year's Eve for quite a number of people. It would be wonderful to do some of those events again to bring joy back into the house."

"Georgie, what do you think? I would love to reinstate those celebrations again. Do you think that Fitzwilliam will agree? Will we have time to organize those after we get back?"

"I would love to do all of those again! I do not remember any of them as they must have stopped just about when I was born and my mother became so ill. Mrs. Reynolds, do you have the details on what each of these involved? Would you be willing to help us by starting the planning? Lizzy, if you and I both urge my brother to do these, I am sure he will agree to whatever we want. I just hope we are back so we time to finalize the plans."

"We may have to have a shorter wedding trip so we will be back in time, but I am willing to do that. I want Pemberley to be a happy home as I believe that it once was. I would love to become more involved in all of these as they sound like a lot of fun."

They spent the next day with Mrs. Reynolds, detailing what would have to be done to get everything organized for these three events. At the end of the day, they were all quite pleased with their progress and believed that they could manage as Mrs. Reynolds said that she would begin preparations right away. The next day the ladies left with Mrs. Annesley and their maids and Darcy's valet for Hertfordshire. They were again accompanied by several footmen as outriders.

It had not rained recently, so the roads were in decent shape. They stopped at a respectable inn for the night and had another early start, wanting to reach Longbourn in time for dinner. Even though the Darcy carriage was very fine, the traveling was tedious. When they reached Hertfordshire, Lizzy began to point out landmarks that she recognized. She showed them the turnoff to Netherfield, which was reached before they entered Meryton. Passing through this village, Lizzy recognized several people and she waved to them. They had stopped to see such a large and obviously expensive carriage in town, and those that had not heard the rumours of Miss Elizabeth's upcoming wedding were impressed to see her in it.

Soon after they left the village, the carriage turned into the driveway that led to Longbourn. Georgie could see that Lizzy was excited to be home. When they stopped, Lizzy was pleased to see that her whole family, except of course, for Lydia, came out to greet them. Jane was the first to hug her, and then they all surrounded her to welcome her. After Jane had greeted Lizzy, she went up to Georgie and said, "It is so good to see you again, Georgie. Good-day to you, Mrs. Annesley." Then the rest of the family welcomed these two ladies.

The last of the family to greet Lizzy was her father. "Lizzy, it is so good to see you. I have not heard a word of sense since you left. Before you ask, yes, I did have a visit from your Mr. Darcy yesterday as you warned."

"I hope you were nice to him. The better I got to know him, the better I like him. I hope you will soon come to Pemberley to see how great an estate it is. It has the largest library I have ever seen. You will love it." Her father was somewhat mollified to hear this implied invitation as he was not happy with the thought that he would soon lose his favourite daughter.

Bingley and Darcy had been there, standing at the back, waiting until all of the family members had greeted the newcomers. After the family had all welcomed them, Bingley came forward and greeted them very warmly. Darcy had already greeted Georgiana, so he was the last to approach Lizzy. "Miss Elizabeth, it is so good to see you again, even though it has only been a few days." He kissed her hand and she could tell from his looks that he wanted to kiss more than that.

After their greetings, they all went in. There were sufficient rooms for them as Jane and Lydia were no longer there. It was approaching dinner, so they went up to change. Dinner was a lively affair as there was so much news to share. The only topic that was not discussed was Lydia, even though Mrs. Bennet would have been happy to boast about her favourite daughter's marriage. The Bingleys and Darcy did not stay long after dinner as they could see that the visitors were tired from their travels. As they were leaving, Jane ushered Bingley into the carriage first, leaving Darcy a few moments of privacy to say his farewell to Lizzy. They did not waste this opportunity, and they shared their mutual regard for each other as only lovers know how.

The weeks before their wedding seemed to fly by. The banns were read for the required three Sundays. Lizzy's trousseau was obtained, although Mrs. Bennet was not happy that Lizzy did not want to go to London for it, saying that she had always shopped in Meryton and that it was still good enough for her. She did not remind her mother that she already had some new gowns from when she had been in town with Georgiana. She expected that she would need more fashionable clothes when she and her husband went to town for the season and she knew that her mother would insist that she purchase gowns that would not be suitable for the class of ladies in which the Matlocks belonged.

As the wedding approached, the guests coming from town began to arrive. Bingley's sisters came and, as Lizzy expected, were very critical of everything they heard about the arrangements. However, as they were not directly involved with either the Darcys or the Bennets, their criticisms were ignored. Lizzy was very glad that she had not been with them when they found out that she was marrying Mr. Darcy as she knew the scene would not have been pleasant. The most important guests to arrive were the Earl and Countess of Matlock and the Colonel. Darcy had asked Bingley if he would host them at Netherfield and he had agreed willingly. The Colonel soon found that Miss Bingley's attentions were focused on him as she had finally accepted that Darcy was not available to her.

The Gardiners arrived to stay at Longbourn, which was now crowded. However, Georgiana had become quite friendly with Kitty, so they doubled up, making room for Lizzy's Aunt and Uncle. The house became very lively and noisy with the addition of the four young children. There was much visiting back and forth between Longbourn and Netherfield. Mrs. Bennet was ecstatic when the Matlocks came to tea as she had never before entertained a real Earl and Countess. This visit gave her much to brag about to all of her acquaintances.

Georgie found a chance to speak to Lizzy alone about that time. "Lizzy, I really like Kitty and would like to have her with me. I know that when we get back to Pemberley, you will be very busy with the duties of the Mistress, so you will have less time to be with me. Do you think it would be a good idea if I asked Fitzwilliam if I we could bring Kitty with us? Would you mind? Would your father approve?"

"Georgie, I have been worried about just that. I know that it will take a lot of my time learning the duties of the Mistress. I think it would be very good for both Kitty and you. I would insist that Mrs. Annesley begin to teach Kitty how to act more as a lady as she has not had a good role model; she tended to copy Lydia, and you know how badly that turned out. When you speak to your brother, tell him that I approve of this plan. Do not worry about my parents. I am sure that I will be able to convince them that it will be good for her, even though it will mean that only Mary will be left here."

Darcy readily agreed with Georgie's request when she told him that Lizzy approved. Lizzy convinced her parents when she told her father that Darcy would be assuming her living expenses and her mother was happy when Lizzy pointed out that Kitty's being with her would put her in the way of more wealthy young men than she would meet in Meryton. They decided that Kitty would remain at Longbourn after the wedding and that they would pick her up when they left London for Pemberley.

The only relative of Darcy's who declined to attend was his Aunt, Lady Catherine. She had written Darcy insisting that his wedding should not take place as he was betrothed to her daughter Anne. As Darcy had expected this, he did not pay any attention to her ranting. He told Richard that from now on, or at least until their Aunt relented, he would not have anything to do with Rosings.

Mrs. Bennet had wanted to invite everyone to dinner at Longbourn the night before the wedding, but she realized that her dining room just would not accommodate so many. Lizzy sympathized with her desire to be a good hostess, so she asked Mr. Bingley if he would allow her mother to arrange for the dinner to be held at Netherfield, which had a much larger dining room. He quickly agreed, which led to some interesting exchanges and battles between Mrs. Bennet and Caroline, who had naturally thought that she should be in charge of such an important event. In spite of these clashes of wills and plans, the dinner came off well.

The morning of the wedding was sunny and relatively warm, so even the weather co-operated. All the ladies at Longbourn tried to help Lizzy dress, but somehow she managed to emerge from her room appearing her very best. Everyone, except for Lizzy and her father went to the church first, and then they went to the church to meet Jane, who was to stand up with her. They waited just outside the church doors until everything was ready. They then went in. Lizzy thought about the last wedding she had attended there, which was Jane's. This time she did not keep her eyes on the floor in front of her; she immediately looked at Darcy, who was standing at the front with Bingley. When she saw the smile on her intended's face, she returned it just as happily. She saw only Darcy; for her, no one else mattered. The ceremony passed in a blur until the parson said that Darcy might kiss the bride. She secretly hoped that he would give her a proper kiss, but he was too shy; instead he only kissed her cheek. They signed the register, and then went out to receive many congratulations and well-wishes from all the friends and family who had attended the wedding.

Mrs. Bennet had insisted that the wedding breakfast would be held at Longbourn, which was very crowded. Darcy had wanted to leave as soon as possible, but he had to wait until all the guests were able to express their hopes for happiness for the newlyweds.

Darcy had asked Lizzy where she would like to go for her wedding trip, but she said that she wanted to go to Pemberley as soon as possible and that a few days alone with him at Darcy House would be quite sufficient for them to enjoy themselves. These few days more than satisfied her wildest dreams of how much bliss they would achieve with each other. They were both passionate people and they let their passions loose, to their complete delight. Now Lizzy understood why Jane had such big smiles after her marriage. She was sure that her own happiness was even greater than her sister's. While they were both tempted to extend their stay alone at Darcy House, they picked up Georgiana and Mrs. Annesley when they had planned and began their trip to Pemberley, stopping in Hertfordshire to pick up Kitty.

Thus, their new life began on a happy note. As soon as they reached Pemberley, they all became immersed in the planning for their first Christmas celebrations. Darcy wisely just approved whatever they wanted and was pleased at their great success, thus establishing a tradition that was very successful in the future. Kitty quickly became accustomed to the easy life she found at Pemberley and became more mature in her behaviour, thoughts, and words. Darcy and Elizabeth found that married life was not all hearts and roses but included differences that had to be overcome. No matter what, their love continued and even grew, as did their family.

THE END

6


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